Lending indicators

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This release is about new borrower-accepted finance commitments for housing, personal and business loans

Reference period
October 2023
Released
4/12/2023

Key statistics

In October 2023, new loan commitments (seasonally adjusted):

  • rose 5.4% for housing
  • rose 2.1% for personal fixed term loans
  • rose 1.2% for business construction (a typically volatile series) and rose 0.3% in trend terms
  • fell 4.7% for business purchase of property (a typically volatile series) but rose 0.9% in trend terms

Value of new borrower-accepted loan commitments (seasonally adjusted)

   Oct-2023 ($b)Month percent change (%)Year percent change (%)
Households
 Housing26.755.44.9
  Owner Occupier (a)17.235.61.4
  Investor (a)9.525.012.1
 Personal
  Fixed term loans (a)2.532.115.6
Businesses
 Construction2.351.2-0.7
 Purchase of Property5.77-4.74.9
  1. Loan commitments for owner occupier, investor housing and personal fixed term loans exclude refinancing.

Important data quality notes

Seasonal adjustment methods

The ABS regularly undertakes an extensive review of seasonally adjusted Lending Indicators series to ensure that the seasonal adjustment process continues to produce robust, high quality data. Similar reviews are regularly undertaken across the ABS economic statistics program. Past issues of Lending Indicators contain more information on methods changes that were made during those periods. Further information can also be found here: Methods changes during the COVID-19 period

Following the reversion to concurrent seasonal adjustment from the October 2022 release, revisions to historical data will occur each month.

Treatment of Buy Now Pay Later products in Personal finance

The ABS has identified some inconsistencies in how Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) loan products are being reported. We are working with APRA, the Reserve Bank and lenders to ensure reporting aligns with reporting guidance and definitions, and is consistent across different lenders. Revisions to Personal finance data are expected when this is resolved.

Personal finance data quality

Some inconsistencies with data reporting have been identified with personal finance lending series. While these series continue to be published, they should be used with caution. The ABS is working with APRA and data providers to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

  

Housing finance

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms, the value of new loan commitments:

  • for total housing rose 5.4% to $26.7b, after a rise of 1.5% in September. It was 4.9% higher compared to a year ago.
  • for owner-occupier housing rose 5.6% to $17.2b and was 1.4% higher compared to a year ago
  • for investor housing rose 5.0% to $ 9.5b and was 12.1% higher compared to a year ago
  1. All series exclude refinancing

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms, the value of external refinancing:

  • for total housing fell 7.0% to $17.4b and was 5.0% lower compared to a year ago
  • for owner-occupier housing fell 9.8% to $11.4b and was 8.6% lower compared to a year ago
  • for investor housing fell 1.0% to $6.0b but was 2.6% higher compared to a year ago

Personal finance

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms, the value of new loan commitments:

  • for fixed term personal finance rose 2.1%, after a rise of 3.0% in September
  • for road vehicles rose 1.5%
  • for personal investment rose 3.7%
  1. Any missing data points in the series above are not available for publication.
  1. Any missing data points in the series above are not available for publication.

Business finance

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms, the value of new loan commitments:

  • for construction finance rose 1.2%, after a rise of 10.7% in September. In trend terms, it rose 0.3%.
  • for the purchase of property fell 4.7%, after a rise of 5.7% in September. In trend terms, it rose 0.9%.

These series can have volatile month-to-month movements as they are strongly affected by small numbers of high value loans.

  1. Any missing data points in the series above are not available for publication.

Housing finance (detailed)

Value of new loan commitments by purpose (seasonally adjusted)

   Oct-2023 ($b)Month percent change (%)Year percent change (%)
Owner occupier
 Total housing (a)17.235.61.4
  Construction of dwellings1.659.1-19.5
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings0.961.7-5.3
  Purchase of existing dwellings13.364.65.2
 First home buyers4.986.211.8
Investor
 Total housing (a)9.525.012.1

Number of new loan commitments by purpose (seasonally adjusted)

   Oct-2023 (No.)Month percent change (%)Year percent change (%)
Owner occupier
 Total housing (a)N/AN/AN/A
  Construction of dwellings2 7592.0-22.7
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings1 6261.5-10.8
  Purchase of existing dwellings21 9663.04.0
 First home buyers9 7815.16.8
Investor
 Total housing (a)N/AN/AN/A

Housing includes loan commitments for dwellings, purchase of residential land and for alterations and additions.

  1. There is no seasonally adjusted or trend data available for the number of owner occupiers or investors for total housing as the data was collected from July 2019.

 

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms, the value of new loan commitments:

  • for owner occupiers rose 5.6%, after a rise of 0.8% in September
  • for investors rose 5.0%, after a rise of 2.8% in September

  

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms for owner-occupier housing, the value of new loan commitments:

  • for the purchase of existing dwellings rose 4.6% and was 5.2% higher compared to a year ago
  • for the construction of new dwellings rose 9.1% but was 19.5% lower compared to a year ago
  • for the purchase of new dwellings rose 1.7% but was 5.3% lower compared to a year ago
  1. For periods prior to July 2019, statistics on owner occupier commitments for residential land are modelled using data about the total value of commitments for residential land.
  2. Users can hide/unhide series in the graph by clicking the legend above (e.g. toggle the "purchase of existing dwellings" series for a closer look at the other purposes of owner occupier lending).

 

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms for owner-occupier housing, the value of new loan commitments:

  • in Western Australia rose 16.8%, in New South Wales rose 4.6%, in Queensland rose 4.5%, in Victoria rose 2.0%, in South Australia rose 3.2%, in Tasmania rose 11.9% and in the Northern Territory rose 6.1%
  • in the Australian Capital Territory fell 0.9%

The Tasmania, Northern Territory, and Australian Capital Territory series are smaller and typically more volatile.

  

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms for investor housing, the value of new loan commitments:

  • in New South Wales rose 5.2%, in Queensland rose 4.5%, in Western Australia rose 6.0%, in Victoria rose 2.2%, in South Australia rose 7.5% and in Tasmania rose 29.4%
  • in the Australian Capital Territory fell 9.6% and in the Northern Territory fell 1.1%

The Tasmania, Northern Territory, and Australian Capital Territory series are smaller and typically more volatile.

In October 2023, in original terms:

  • the value of total new variable rate loan commitments funded in the month rose 6.4%
  • the value of total new fixed rate loan commitments funded in the month fell 43.6% to the lowest point recorded in the series
  1. A loan is considered funded once any portion of the funds is made available for the borrower to draw down according to the terms of the contract. This will occur after there is a borrower-accepted commitment to provide finance. Due to this timing difference, the value of loans funded in the month shown in this graph will generally not reconcile with the value of new borrower-accepted commitments for the month shown in the other graphs and download tables.

In October 2023, in original terms, average loan sizes for owner-occupier dwellings (including construction, purchase of new dwellings and existing dwellings, excluding land, alterations and additions):

  • rose 1.9% at the national level from $599k to $610k. It was 1.2% lower compared to the record high of $618k in January 2022.
  1. Please note that while the series graphed above are joined between the available data points, there may be missing data points in between which are not available for publication

First home buyers

In October 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms for owner-occupier first home buyers, the number of new loan commitments:

  • at the national level rose 5.1% to 9,781, after a rise of 1.0% in September. It was 6.8% higher compared to a year ago.
  • in New South Wales rose 15.7%, in Tasmania rose 61.2%, in Victoria rose 2.5%, in Western Australia rose 4.5%, in the Northern Territory rose 30.6% and in the Australian Capital Territory rose 0.4%
  • in Queensland fell 1.6% and in South Australia fell 0.5%

Additional information

Previously, the ABS published a first home buyer ratio which was the ratio of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments to all owner occupier loan commitments. The table below presents two owner occupier first home buyer ratios.

The first ratio is the ratio of first home buyer loan commitments to total dwelling commitments (excluding refinancing). This is similar to the ratio published prior to October 2019. Loan commitments for dwellings is the sum of loan commitments for construction of dwellings, newly erected dwellings and existing dwellings. 

The second ratio is a new ratio, the ratio of first home buyer loan commitments to total housing loan commitments (excluding refinancing). This ratio uses the new key statistic, total housing loan commitments. Total housing loan commitments is the sum of loan commitments for dwellings and loan commitments for purchases of residential land and alterations and additions. 

First home buyer ratios should be used with caution because the direction of movements in the ratio are often not indicative of the direction of movement in the number of first home buyers. First home buyer ratios are no longer routinely published by the ABS in the time series spreadsheets. 

The table below does not include first home buyer loan commitments for investors. Information about the number of loan commitments for investors is new and is separately presented in a graph below.

New loan commitments to owner-occupier first home buyers (original), number

 First home buyer loan commitments
Number
First home buyer ratio
Dwellings (a)
First home buyer ratio
Housing (b)
Total Australia10 13638.1%32.6%
New South Wales2 52036.5%31.2%
Victoria3 19542.5%36.9%
Queensland1 86732.7%27.8%
South Australia61336.0%29.2%
Western Australia1 40440.2%34.8%
Tasmania21641.1%35.1%
Northern Territory7237.5%32.6%
Australian Capital Territory25043.6%38.8%

a.  Dwellings includes loan commitments for construction of dwellings, purchase of newly erected dwellings and purchase of existing dwellings.

b. Housing includes loan commitments for dwellings, purchase of residential land and for alterations and additions.

Data downloads

Housing Finance - Total

Data files

   

Housing Finance - Owner-occupiers

Data files

   

Housing Finance - Investors

Data files

  

Housing Finance - First home buyers

Data files

    

Table 26. Households; Housing finance; Non-residents; New loan commitments; Numbers and values

   

Personal Finance

Data files

   

Business Finance

Data files

Data cubes

Series ID concordance mapping

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5601.0.

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