Lending indicators

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

Reference period
April 2021
Released
4/06/2021

Key statistics

In April 2021, new loan commitments (seasonally adjusted):

  • rose 3.7 per cent for housing
  • rose 4.8 per cent for personal fixed term loans
  • fell 10.5 per cent for business construction (typically a volatile series)

New borrower-accepted loan commitments (seasonally adjusted)

Apr-21 ($b)Month percent change (%)Year percent change (%)
Households   
 Housing31.063.768.2
  Owner occupier (a)23.004.370.1
  Investor (a)8.052.163.0
 Personal   
  Fixed term loans1.884.857.7
Businesses   
 Construction2.37-10.514.8
 Purchase of property6.5727.853.6

(a) Loan commitments for owner occupier, investor housing and personal fixed term loans exclude refinancing.

 

Important data quality note

Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection

Seasonal adjustment changes

Lender type breakdowns

Suspension of trend series

     

Housing finance

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments for housing rose 3.7 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments to owner occupiers rose 4.3 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments to investors rose 2.1 per cent

  

Personal finance

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments for fixed term personal lending rose 4.8 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments for personal investment rose 25.2 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments for road vehicles rose 3.6 per cent

  

Business finance

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments for construction fell 10.5 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments for purchase of property rose 27.8 per cent

Housing finance (detailed)

New loan commitments by purpose (seasonally adjusted)

Apr-2021Month percent changeYear percent change
Value($b)(%)(%)
 Owner occupier   
      Total housing (a)23.004.370.1
  Construction of dwellings3.21-11.493.5
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings1.55-1.442.7
  Purchase of existing dwellings16.619.269.8
      First home buyers6.69-1.960.4
 Investor   
      Total housing (a)8.052.163.0
Number(No.)(%)(%)
 Owner occupier   
      Total housing (a) (b)---
  Construction of dwellings 7 335-10.796.3
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings 2 912-7.331.1
  Purchase of existing dwellings28 8163.254.9
      First home buyers15 171-1.959.6
 Investor   
      Total housing (a) (b)---

(a) Housing includes loan commitments for dwellings, purchase of residential land and for alterations and additions.
(b) 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 seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments to owner occupiers rose 4.3 per cent to reach the highest point in the series
  • The value of new loan commitments for investor housing rose 2.1 per cent, continuing a period of rises since May 2020 and reaching a level similar to June 2017

  

In seasonally adjusted terms for owner occupier housing, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments for the purchase of existing dwellings rose 9.2 per cent
  • The value of new loan commitments for the construction of new dwellings fell 11.4 per cent, the second consecutive month of falls since June 2020. The Homebuilder grant (introduced in June 2020) was reduced from $25k to $15k effective from 1 January 2021 and was closed to new applications from 14 April 2021
  • The value of new loan commitments for the purchase of new dwellings fell 1.4 per cent

(a) For periods prior to July 2019, statistics about owner occupier commitments for residential land are modelled using data about the total value of  commitments for residential land.

* Hide/unhide series in the graph by clicking the legend above (toggle the 'purchase of existing dwellings' series for a closer look at the other purposes of owner occupier lending).

 

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments to owner occupiers rose 8.6 per cent in New South Wales, 8.4 per cent in Victoria, 5.3 per cent in South Australia and 1.3 per cent in Queensland
  • The value of new loan commitments to owner occupiers fell 7.9 per cent in Western Australia

  

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new loan commitments to investors rose across all states except the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania
  • The value of new loan commitments to investors rose 7.1 per cent in Queensland, 2.5 per cent in New South Wales and 2.2 per cent in Victoria

  

In original terms, in April 2021:

  • The value of new variable rate loan commitments funded in the month fell 11.2 per cent
  • The value of new variable rate loan commitments to first home buyers funded in the month fell 13.4 per cent
  • The value of new fixed rate loan commitments funded in the month rose 1.4 per cent
  • The value of new fixed rate loan commitments to first home buyers funded in the month rose 5.8 per cent

*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.

**Total Fixed rate and Total Variable rate housing loans include first home buyer loans

First home buyers

In April 2021:

  • The number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments fell 1.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms

  • Owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments accounted for 32.9 per cent of all owner occupier commitments (excluding refinancing), in original terms

 

Additional information

  

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

 First home buyer loan commitmentsFirst home buyer ratioFirst home buyer ratio
 NumberDwellingsHousing
Total Australia14 08337.8%32.9%
 New South Wales 3 34134.2%29.7%
 Victoria 4 33240.9%35.3%
 Queensland 2 83535.8%31.4%
 South Australia 90132.8%28.9%
 Western Australia 2 06545.7%41.4%
 Tasmania 24534.6%27.9%
 Northern Territory 10038.8%34.8%
 Australian Capital Territory 26433.2%29.1%

  

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data cubes

Series ID concordance mapping

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5601.0.

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