This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
HOUSING underpinned growth in total private credit over April, although the owner occupier and investor segments slowed down.
Over the month total credit grew by 0.4%, with housing up by 0.5% albeit at the slowest rate since July 2016. The investor segment was up 0.6% and owner occupier 0.5%.
ANZ senior economist Daniel Gradwell said recent out-of-cycle mortgage rate increases, and APRA’s additional macroprudential tightening at the end of March, appeared to be weighing on sentiment in the sector.
“The slowdown in investor borrowing suggests that we are past the peak in house price growth,” he added.
Year-on-year, credit grew 4.9% overall. Housing was up 6.5% with investor up 7.3% and owner occupier 6.1%.
Meanwhile the personal category slipped by 0.1% in the months and 1.5% over the year, whilst business credit was up 0.4% and 3.1% respectively.
Gradwell said the fairly soft period of business credit is in line with new finance approvals, which have also remained sluggish.
“But the weakness in borrowing is somewhat surprising given that reported business conditions and confidence are sitting around the highest levels since the GFC. We anticipate this will lead to an eventual improvement in investment plans, and therefore credit growth,” he continued.
Personal credit fell for the 17th consecutive month.
“Household spending has slowed in recent months, and we believe the household saving rate is set to stabilise, which will further weigh on spending and borrowing,” Gradwell said.
Australian Property Journal
