Home loan growth stuck at record lows

Updated

Reserve Bank figures show credit growth remains subdued, with business lending unchanged.

The RBA's monthly financial aggregates show that housing credit was up 0.4 per cent over March, the same as its rise in February.

The value of home loans was up 4.4 per cent over the year to March - that is the slowest annual rate of home loan growth in the 36 years the Reserve Bank has been publishing the figures.

Australia has been stuck at that slow pace of home loan growth for the last three months, with owner-occupied housing primarily responsible, while investor activity has been marginally stronger.

RBC Capital Markets economist Michael Turner says a large part of the weakness in home loan growth is due to existing borrowers paying off their loans faster.

"Lower rates have begun to encourage more borrowing, particularly in the housing market, but the impact of existing mortgage holders using these lower rates to accelerate principal repayments continues to offset this to a large degree," he wrote in a note on the data.

Other personal credit, such as credit cards or car loans, rose 0.1 per cent last month, matching February's rise, but is still down 0.1 per cent over the year to March.

Businesses are also loathe to borrow, with no credit growth last month following on from a 0.2 per cent fall in February.

Loans to businesses are up only 1.6 per cent over the past year.

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, economic-trends, banking, housing-industry, money-and-monetary-policy, australia

First posted