Lenders reported that the availability of secured credit to households had decreased in the three months to end-November 2018 (Q4) and was expected to increase slightly over the next three months to end-February 2019 (Q1).

The availability of unsecured credit to households was reported to have decreased in Q4 and was expected to decrease slightly in Q1 (Chart 1). Credit scoring criteria for total unsecured loan applications were reported to have tightened slightly in Q4, although the proportion of applications approved was unchanged.

The overall availability of credit to the corporate sector was reported to have been unchanged in Q4. Within this, the availability of credit provided to medium businesses was reported to have fallen slightly in Q4, and was unchanged for small and large businesses. The overall availability of credit to the corporate sector was expected to remain unchanged in Q1.