Wary mass market in savings mode

Ian Rogers

April saw the second-largest one-month rise in the level of household deposits on record, portraying a mass market on edge and saving like blazes, at least during the second month of the pandemic.

Household deposits with Australian banks increased by A$20.3 billion to $911 billion during April. This follows a rise of $9.1 billion in March, with household deposits rising 3.2 per cent over two months.

Business deposits over the two months to the end of April increased by 6.3 per cent, with a jump of $27.5 billion in March and $8.0 billion in April.

Under siege on many fronts, total credit card balances of all APRA-regulated banks fell hard in April, down $3.8 billion to $31.9 billion, a fall of 10.5 per cent in one month.

Credit card balances are down by 18.5 per cent over one year and a major contributor to the fall of 9.5 per cent (over one year) in the Reserve Bank’s measure of aggregate credit for personal use.

Demand for residential investment loans is in reverse, on the RBA data, with lending in this category down by 0.2 per cent in April following a fall of 0.1 per cent in March.

Growth in credit for owner-occupied housing, however, is holding up, with growth of 0.5 per cent in April, the same as in March and broadly in line with growth in owner-occupied home loans since late 2019.