5671.0 - Lending Finance, Australia, Mar 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 16/05/2006   
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MARCH KEY FIGURES

Feb 2006
Mar 2006
Feb 2006 to Mar 2006
$m
$m
% change

TREND ESTIMATES
Housing finance for owner occupation
13 007
13 054
0.4
Personal finance
6 492
6 647
2.4
Commercial finance
33 956
34 757
2.4
Lease finance
622
623
-
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
Housing finance for owner occupation
13 040
13 124
0.6
Personal finance
6 525
6 799
4.2
Commercial finance
33 496
35 545
6.1
Lease finance
561
561
0.1

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Personal finance
Graph: PERSONAL FINANCE

Commercial finance
Graph: COMMERCIAL FINANCE



MARCH KEY POINTS


HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

March 2006 COMPARED WITH February 2006:

  • The total value of owner-occupied housing commitments excluding alterations and additions increased by 0.6% (seasonally adjusted), while the trend series rose 0.4%.


PERSONAL FINANCE

March 2006 COMPARED WITH February 2006:
  • The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose by 4.2%. This increase was due to a rise in revolving credit commitments by 8.5% (see Notes p.2), partially offset by a fall in fixed lending commitments (down 1.3%).
  • The trend series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose by 2.4% due to increases in both revolving credit commitments (up 3.5%) and fixed lending (up 0.9%).


COMMERCIAL FINANCE

March 2006 COMPARED WITH February 2006:
  • The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose by 6.1%. This increase was due to increases in fixed lending commitments (up 11.7%), partially offset by a decrease in revolving credit commitments (down 4.2%).
  • The trend series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose by 2.4%. Fixed lending commitments increased by 2.6%, while revolving credit rose by 1.8%.


LEASE FINANCE

March 2006 COMPARED WITH February 2006:
  • Lease finance commitments (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.1%. The lease finance trend series recorded virtually no change.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
April 2006 9 June 2006
May 2006 12 July 2006
June 2006 11 August 2006
July 2006 11 September 2006
August 2006 13 October 2006
September 2006 13 November 2006



CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The rise in new and increased personal revolving credit limits reported in this issue should be considered in conjunction with the increase in cancellations and reductions in credit limits. There are strong increases in both these estimates due to changed activity in a number of credit card products. The net change in total credit limits is relatively small. See Table 5.



INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Michael Abbondante on Canberra (02) 6252 6707.



SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

The total value of owner occupied housing commitments excluding alterations and additions increased by 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) in March 2006 compared with February 2006, while the trend series rose 0.4%


For further information, please refer to Housing Finance, Australia (cat. no. 5609.0).



PERSONAL FINANCE

In seasonally adjusted terms, the value of total personal finance commitments rose by 4.2% in March 2006 compared with February 2006. This increase was due to an increase in revolving credit commitments (up 8.5%), partially offset by a decrease in fixed lending commitments (down 1.3%).


The increase in new and increased credit limits was offset by an increase in cancellations and reductions, reflecting both increased competition in the credit card market and the initial phasing out of a key credit card product. New and increased credit limits (original series) increased by 34%, while there was a 41% increase in cancellations. The overall increase in the level of total revolving credit limits (original series) was $1,980m (up 0.9%).


In trend terms, the value of total personal finance commitments rose by 2.4% in March 2006. The trend series for revolving credit commitments rose 3.5%, while fixed lending commitments increased by 0.9%.


In original terms, fixed lending commitments increased by $390m (up 14.3%) in March 2006, with fixed loan refinancing up $118m (19.9%).



COMMERCIAL FINANCE

The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose by 6.1% in March 2006 compared to February 2006. The increase was due to an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 11.7%) more than offsetting a decrease in revolving credit commitments (down 4.2%).


The trend series for commercial finance commitments increased 2.4% in March 2006. There was an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 2.6%), while revolving credit commitments rose 1.8%.


The value of purchases of dwellings by individuals for rent or resale (seasonally adjusted) rose by 1.0% in March 2006, after a decrease of 1.3% in February 2006. The trend series fell by 0.1%, the first decrease after seven consecutive monthly increases.

PURCHASE OF DWELLINGS BY INDIVIDUALS FOR RENT OR RESALE
Graph: PURCHASE OF DWELLINGS BY INDIVIDUALS FOR RENT OR RESALE




LEASE FINANCE

The value of lease finance commitments (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.1%. The trend series for lease finance commitments remained virtually unchanged.



ADDITIONAL TABLES ON AUSSTATS


TABLES AVAILABLE ON AUSSTATS

Additional tables are available from the AusStats service on <https://www.abs.gov.au> by selecting Time Series Spreadsheets and then Finance.


Tables available are:

  • longer time series of tables in this publication
  • the following tables
      C1a. Commercial finance commitments (original, seasonally adjusted, trend)
      C1b. Commercial finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit
      C1c. Commercial finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit by lender
      C1d. Commercial finance commitments, fixed loans by industry
      C1e. Commercial finance commitments, revolving credit by industry
      C2 to C9. Commercial finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit by state and territory
      L1a. Lease finance commitments, summary (original, seasonally adjusted, trend)
      L1b. Lease finance commitments by purpose
      L1c. Lease finance commitments by purpose and lender
      L1d. Lease finance commitments by industry
      L2 to L9. Lease finance commitments by purpose and state and territory
      OL1b. Operating lease finance commitments by purpose
      OL1c. Operating lease finance commitments by lender
      OL1d. Operating lease finance commitments by industry
      OL2 to OL9. Operating lease finance commitments by purpose and state and territory
      P1a. Personal finance commitments, summary (original, seasonally adjusted, trend)
      P1b. Personal finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit
      P1c. Personal finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit by lender
      P2 to P9. Personal finance commitments, fixed loans and revolving credit by state and territory
      13 Lending Finance Seasonal Factors, By Purpose and Lender: Australia, January 1985 to March 2007.