Meanwhile, new home sales have been buoyed by low mortgage interest rates as well as favorable demographics. Cash borrowed in the process of mortgage refinancing, an important support for consumer outlays this past year, is bound to contract at some point, as average interest rates on households' total mortgage portfolio converges to interest rates on new mortgages.
Lending to non-financial corporations continues to reflect the lagged relationship with the business cycle, credit risk, credit supply factors and the ongoing adjustment of financial and non-financial sector balance sheets. The annual growth rate of loans to households (adjusted for loan sales and securitisation) was 0.6% in September, after 0.5% in August.