Growth in credit to the small business sector through the boom years was more restrained than the run-up in credit to the large business sector, and credit outstanding has held up better since. Over the past six months or so, credit to small business has grown at an annual rate of about 8 per cent.
Graph 10  Property financing Given the obvious interests of this group, let me end by looking in more detail at property financing. Property-related lending accounts for a very significant share of the business lending undertaken by banks and other lenders. It also tends to be among the most cyclical components of lending, rising strongly during boom periods and then contracting sharply.