The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this morning released the Lending Finance data for March, which registered a large increase in the value of commercial finance commitments and smaller rises in both personal and lease financing commitments:
In seasonally adjusted terms, the value of commercial finance commitments rose 8.8% in March, but remains well below pre-GFC highs:
The value of personal finance commitments rose 1.1% in March, although it too remains below the peak levels reached in 2010 and trending down:
Finally, the value of lease financing commitments also bounced, up 2.5% in the month, and appears to be in a bit of an uptrend. However, it too remains fairly low by recent historical standards, and adjusted for population growth:
The housing finance data for the month of March – down -0.3% in value terms – was analysed in detail on Monday (see here). In aggregate, it appears that the arteries of our economy, housing and business finance, remain clogged.
