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AUGUST KEY FIGURES

		Jul 2006	Aug 2006	Jul 2006 to Aug 2006
		$m	$m	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation	14 049	14 143	0.7
	Personal finance	6 790	6 745	-0.7
	Commercial finance	31 951	32 136	0.6
	Lease finance	521	521	0.0
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation	14 140	13 956	-1.3
	Personal finance	6 618	6 643	0.4
	Commercial finance	31 367	33 115	5.6
	Lease finance	513	503	-1.9

Personal finance

Commercial finance

AUGUST KEY POINTS


HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

August 2006 COMPARED WITH July 2006:

• The total value of owner-occupied housing commitments excluding alterations and additions decreased by 1.3% (seasonally adjusted), while the trend series rose 0.7%.

• The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose by 0.4%. This increase was due to increases in fixed lending commitments (up 0.8%), while revolving credit commitments remained virtually unchanged.
• The trend series for the value of total personal finance fell 0.7% due to a decrease in revolving credit commitments (down 1.9%), partially offset by an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 0.9%).

• The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose by 5.6%. This increase was due to an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 11.8%) more than offsetting a decrease in revolving credit commitments (down 6.9%).
• The trend series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose by 0.6%. Increases were recorded for both fixed lending commitments (up 0.7%) and revolving credit commitments (up 0.3%).

• Lease finance commitments (seasonally adjusted) decreased by 1.9%. The lease finance trend series remained virtually unchanged.

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.

TIME SERIES DATA


TIME SERIES SPREADSHEETS

Data available free on the ABS web site <https://www.abs.gov.au> include:

• longer time series of tables in this publication, and
• 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 August 2007.

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 0.4% in August 2006 compared with July 2006. This rise was due to an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 0.8%) while revolving credit commitments remained virtually unchanged.

In trend terms, the value of total personal finance fell 0.7% in August 2006. The trend series for revolving credit commitments fell 1.9%, more than offsetting an increase in fixed lending commitments (up 0.9%).

In original terms, fixed lending commitments increased by $290m (up 10.1%) in August 2006 compared with July 2006. Movements contributing to this increase were:

• Refinancing, up $88m (12.6%), compared with an average July to August decrease of 0.5% over the previous three years.
• Total motor vehicles, up $81m (10.8%) compared with an average July to August increase of 1.9% over the previous three years.

The trend series for commercial finance commitments increased 0.6% in August 2006. The increase was due to increases in both fixed lending commitments (up 0.7%), and revolving credit commitments (up 0.3%).

The value of purchases of dwellings by individuals for rent or resale (seasonally adjusted) rose by 0.4% in August 2006, after a decrease of 12.5% in July 2006. The trend series rose 0.3% in August 2006.

PURCHASE OF DWELLINGS BY INDIVIDUALS FOR RENT OR RESALE