Sharp brake: Consumer loan growth hits seven-year low in July

A plunge in car loans led the decline.

New cars are hard to come by thanks to ongoing curbs in car loans and persistently high Certificate of Entitlement premiums. Domestic loan growth continued to moderate in July, as data released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed that the headline number moderates to 10.8%, down from 12.3% in June.

Consumer loan growth fell 6% from 6.5% in July. Maybank Kim Eng notes that this is the slowest pace of loan growth in seven years.

DBS notes that the decline was led by a 19.9% plunge in car loans. The government’s curbs on car loans are steadily undermining car sales, as car loans have been falling by about 20% for the past four months.

Mortgage loans are also moderating. Maybank Kim Eng notes that at 7.0% YoY, growth was close to its trough in seven years, reflecting a weak property market and higher base.

“Housing loans accounted for 74.7% of DBU consumer loans as at end-July. Car loans made up 4.1%. We expect housing loan growth to remain soft in 2015. Demand will stem mainly from loan drawdowns for newly completed homes sold in 2012,” stated Maybank Kim Eng.