A drop in commercial loans for the second consecutive month does not auger well for business investment, a leading economist says.
Loans to businesses and investors, including investor mortgages, dived 7.1 per cent in January, following a 12.5 per cent decline in December, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Loans to business and investors were worth $39.5 billion in January, compared with $42.5 billion the previous month.
AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver says, while the level of commercial lending tends to bounce around, the ABS figures are consistent with other recent data that also indicated a dip lending to businesses.
"It could just be month-to-month volatility in the data or it could be something more worrying," he said.
"If lending to businesses is declining then it doesn't auger well for a pick up in business investment."
Home loans for owner-occupiers also fell 0.2 per cent in January to $20.1 billion, while and personal finance dipped 2.8 per cent to $6.9 billion.
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