Total credit excluding financial businesses, Australia

Total credit excluding financial businesses is the sum of credit to Australian households for housing, other personal credit and credit to non-financial businesses, from the Reserve Bank of Australia's table D2 (series DLCACFS). It is seasonally adjusted, includes securitized loans and replaced the older total credit series in June 2019.

It is the broadest measure of private-sector borrowing in Australia, and the one the RBA uses to describe credit to the real economy. Comparing it with nominal GDP shows how much debt households and businesses carry relative to the size of the economy, a common gauge of financial vulnerability. Because housing makes up most of it, the series mostly follows the mortgage market.

Use it with its components in mind. Housing credit dominates, so a slowdown in business lending can be hidden by steady mortgage growth, and the reverse. The series leaves out lending between financial institutions, which keeps double counting out but means it is not comparable with the discontinued total credit series. The levels shown here are not adjusted for reclassifications or reporting changes, so the RBA's published growth rates are a better guide to month-to-month momentum than changes calculated from these levels.

Total credit excluding financial businesses is at its highest since the series starts in January 2006. Within ten years, total credit excluding financial businesses beats 100% of readings.

Total credit excluding lending to financial businesses, seasonally adjusted, including securitisations.

RBA publishes total credit excluding financial businesses monthly in RBA table D2, in AUD and is seasonally adjusted. Code: DLCACFS. Method for total credit excluding financial businesses.