Australia: Total private credit grew by 0.4% in September - Westpac

Andrew Hanlan, Research Analyst at Westpac, notes that Australia’s total credit grew by 0.4% in the month of September, including a 0.35% rise for housing and a 0.6% expansion in business

Key Quotes

“Annual credit growth is 4.6% currently, moderating from 5.3% a year ago. Housing growth has eased to 5.2% from 6.6% over this period.”

“Business grew by 4.4% over the past year, up a fraction from 4.2% a year earlier.”

“Personal credit continues to contract, down 0.9% in the year to September 2017 and falling by a further 1.5% over the past year.”

“Business credit remains volatile around a modest uptrend. The September quarter saw a brisk rise of 2.0%, up sharply from gains in the three previous quarters (0.9%, 0.8% and 0.6%). The pace of the past three months is unlikely to be sustained given the current economic and financial backdrop.”

“On housing, indicators point to a further cooling of conditions.”

“Momentum in housing credit, as measured by 3 month annualised growth, has slowed progressively from a peak of 6.8% in May 2017 to be 4.7% currently.”

“Turning to business credit, this is volatile around a modest uptrend, as noted above. Annual growth is 4.4% currently - three months earlier it dipped to 3.2%.”