Australians might have borrowed more for housing in October, but overall personal credit shrank, the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday.
And other figures from the Reserve Bank on credit card use in October again showed a reticence by Australians to spend up big on credit.
The ABS said total personal finance commitments fell 0.4% in October, seasonally adjusted, to $7.595 billion from $7.622 billion in September.
The ABS said revolving credit commitments fell 2.5%, while fixed lending commitments rose 1.9%.
Housing finance for owner occupation was up 2.8% to $14.161 billion in October from $13.772 billion in August.
Total commercial finance rose 5.2% in October, seasonally adjusted, to $29.601 billion, up from $28.138 billion in September.
The ABS said revolving credit commitments rose 17.4% and fixed lending commitments rose 0.3%.
Lease finance was up 3.1% in October to $416 million, compared with $403 million the month before.
Meanwhile the RBA’s latest figures on credit card use and balances confirm the continuing caution among consumers (and help to explain the lacklustre retail sales figures for the month).
The RBA said credit and charge card balances outstanding in Australia amounted to $47,792 billion at the end of October, up 5.8% in the 12 months ending October.
That sounds impressive, but is well down on the near 10% annual rate of growth in the preceding five years.
Credit and charge card repayments were up by only 2% from a year before, compared with a previous five-year average growth rate of 8.7%.
The value of credit and charge card transactions, including cash advances, was $19.567 billion in October, compared with $19.230 billion in October 2009, a rise of just 1.7% over the year.
The give away is the continuing strong growth in EFTPOS transactions, including both purchases and cash-outs.
They were up 13.8% from October 2009, up from the 13.4% growth rate in the previous five years.
And from September there was a noticeable fall in the number and value of card transactions.
But there was a sharp rise in the number and value of EFTPOS and debit transactions month on month.
But the month on month figures do not show as clearly the slowing trend in credit card use for credit transactions, or the rise in cards for EFPOS and or cash withdrawals.
