The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released Lending Finance data for the month of August, which registered a seasonally-adjusted fall in personal, housing and lease finance commitments, but a big rise in commercial finance commitments (see next table).
In seasonally adjusted terms, the value of personal finance commitments fell by 2.6% in August, but were up 8.1% over the year:
The value of lease finance commitments fell by 24.2% over the month and were down by 37.3% over the past year, due to the former Government’s plan to restrict fringe benefits on company cars:
The value of housing finance commitments also fell 1.9% in August, but were up 10.0% over the year:
By contrast, commercial finance commitments rose by 7.0% in August and were up 23.9% over the year, although they remain well below pre-GFC highs:
