Personal debt bucks loan slump

CONSUMERS took on more personal debt in February, bucking a slowing trend in commercial and housing loan approvals, figures published yesterday show.

Personal finance grew 0.9 per cent to $7.4 billion, its highest level since June. In contrast, housing and commercial loan approvals fell 5.9 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively, with borrowers deterred by climbing interest rates. The rise in personal debt showed consumers were lagging in slowing their borrowing, economists said.

"The slowdown in consumer spending … will eventually cause personal loan approvals to fall, although there is little evidence of this to date," said Citibank's director of economic and market analysis, Shane Lee.

The figures also showed borrowers were expanding their personal debt to refinance.

"Within personal lending, loans taken out by people to consolidate existing debt were up 24.3 per cent on a year ago, while refinancing of existing loans soared by 54.2 per cent in annual terms," said Savanth Sebastian, an equities economist at CommSec.

Alongside the increase in personal debt, yesterday's figures showed commercial finance fell 10.4 per cent, after a 14 per cent rise in January. The cancellation of $16.8 billion in commercial borrowing commitments - predominantly due to margin calls - drove this trend down, Mr Sebastian said.

Mr Lee said margin loans accounted for about 4 per cent of household credit, so their effect on consumer spending would be limited. However, he noted that households most affected by margin loans were relatively wealthy and tended to be higher spenders.

In total, lending for housing, personal and business loans fell 8.3 per cent in February, this week's figures show.

Source : http://business.smh.com.au/personal-debt-bucks-loan-slump/20080415-26cr.html