Indeed, around 95 per cent of loans to SMEs are secured – compared with around 70 per cent for large business loans (Graph 4). And about half of small business loans are secured by residential property. Many small business owners may not be well placed to provide sufficient home equity to secure a suitable loan.
Graph 4  Lending to Businesses Not seasonally adjusted, break-adjusted $  Small business  Medium business  Large business  $  600  600  450  450  300  300  150  150  0  S D M J S D M S D M J S D M S D M J S D M 2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021 Secured (other) Secured (residential property)  0  Unsecured Secured  Sources: APRA; RBA  Small businesses generally have few viable alternatives for external finance outside of traditional intermediated finance.