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AUGUST KEY FIGURES

		Jul 2004	Aug 2004	Jul 2004 to Aug 2004
		$m	$m	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation	10,083	10,143	0.6
	Personal finance	6,301	6,183	-1.9
	Commercial finance	22,824	22,605	-1.0
	Lease finance	483	484	0.1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation	10,176	10,187	0.1
	Personal finance	6,210	5,995	-3.5
	Commercial finance	23,173	23,046	-0.5
	Lease finance	462	548	18.7

Personal finance

Commercial finance

AUGUST KEY POINTS


HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

• The total value of owner-occupied housing commitments increased by 0.1% (seasonally adjusted) in August 2004. The trend series increased by 0.6%.

• The seasonally adjusted series for total personal finance commitments fell by 3.5% in August 2004. Fixed lending remained unchanged and revolving credit commitments decreased by 6.5%.
• The total personal finance trend series decreased by 1.9% in August 2004.

• The total commercial finance series (seasonally adjusted) fell by 0.5% in August 2004, with fixed lending decreasing by 2.0% and revolving credit increasing by 2.2%.
• The purchase of dwellings by individuals for rent or resale (seasonally adjusted) series fell by 3.3% in August 2004, after a small rise of 2.5% in the previous month.
• The trend series for total commercial finance decreased by 1.0% in August 2004, the ninth consecutive monthly decrease. The fixed lending trend series fell by 1.5% while the revolving credit trend series rose by 0.1%.

• Lease finance (seasonally adjusted) increased by 18.7% in August 2004.
• The lease finance trend rose by 0.1% in August 2004, the second month of small increases following eight successive monthly falls.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Vincent Nguyen on Canberra (02) 6252 6398.

LENDING FINANCE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

The total value of commitments excluding alterations and additions (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.1% in August 2004. The trend series increased by 0.6%.

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

PERSONAL FINANCE

In seasonally adjusted terms, total personal finance fell by 3.5% to $5,995 million in August 2004, the third successive monthly decrease. Revolving credit commitments decreased by 6.5% to their lowest level since November 2002. In original terms, revolving credit commitments decreased by 11.6% in August due to falls in both secured and unsecured revolving credit, down 12.4% and 10.5% respectively.

In original terms, fixed lending commitments decreased by 3.8%, to $2,888 million in August 2004. This was due mainly to decreases in other fixed lending (down 7.3%), refinancing of personal finance (down 4.8%), debt consolidation (down 6.7%), individual residential blocks of land (down 2.7%) and new motor vehicles (down 4.1%). Used cars finance increased by 0.6%.

COMMERCIAL FINANCE

Total commercial finance series (seasonally adjusted) decreased by 0.5% to $23,046 million in August 2004. Revolving credit commitments increased by 2.2% and fixed lending commitments decreased by 2.0%.

In original terms, fixed lending commitments decreased by 7.1%. Other fixed lending (down 14.4%), wholesale finance (down 27.9%) and purchase of real property (down 4.4%) were the main contributors to the decrease in commercial fixed lending. In contrast, refinancing increased by 24.6%. Revolving credit commitments (original) decreased by 4.5%.

The seasonally adjusted purchase of dwellings for rent or resale by individuals series decreased to $4,186 million (down 3.3%) in August 2004. The trend series fell by 2.7% in August 2004, the tenth consecutive monthly decline.

PURCHASE OF DWELLINGS BY INDIVIDUALS FOR RENT OR RESALE