While home lending softens, business lending is holding its ground. Australian Broker reported that NAB's business and private banking division grew lending balances 4% over the June quarter, outpacing other divisions including home loans. Non-bank Bizcap said its small business funding volumes grew 45% over the year.
Two forces are pulling in the same direction. Bizcap's Rebecca del Rio pointed to "high input costs, wage pressure, slower customer payments and tighter cash buffers" on one side, and improved competition on pricing, speed and product choice on the other. Prime Capital's Steve Sampson described a "modest improvement in SME confidence," with businesses reviving plans that rate uncertainty had put on hold.
What it changes for a borrower
The practical signal is a wider field. When banks, brokers and non-banks are all competing for the same book, that tends to sharpen pricing, decision speed and product range. It does not guarantee any single business a better deal, but it changes the odds of finding a structure that fits.
The reported use of funds is telling. Del Rio noted a large share goes to cash-flow support, working capital and refinancing, with the rest split across expansion (21%), equipment (20%) and inventory (11%). Sampson flagged refinancing ATO debt into structured commercial facilities as a growing theme. That is the profile of borrowing done to protect liquidity, not to chase growth for its own sake.
Confidence remains uneven. Del Rio described it as "recovering in pockets, rather than surging across the board," and expects second-half demand to stay focused on working capital, cash flow and selective asset-backed investment. The word both lenders keep circling is discipline.
For a business weighing finance, the takeaway is not urgency but timing awareness: the market is more contestable than it was, and the borrowers moving are the ones whose numbers already stack up.
General information only.