How much debt do Australian households have?

References

Data extracted 15 September 2026. Reviewed 2026-09-15 by Aard Data Team. Each numbered entry is the publication that documents the figures; the calls beneath it are the ones the retrieval actually made, and each figure is numbered under its publication — 1.1, 1.2 — and links to the narrowest call that returns it.

1. [1]Bank for International Settlements, Credit to the non-financial sector, March quarter 2026
   Vintage: Market-value series adjusted for breaks, compiled on the System of National Accounts 2008 framework. The BIS revises the database with each release and does not flag revisions in the data message.
   • API Calls: · extracted 15 September 2026
     BIS:WS_TChttps://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/WS_TC/Q.AU+US+GB+CA+NL+KR+SE+NO+DK+CH+JP+DE+FR+5R.H+N+P.A.M.770+XDC.A?startPeriod=1990&format=csv

     • 1.13,299.56 A$ billion · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, AustraliaQ.AU.H.A.M.XDC.A
     • 1.2114.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, AustraliaQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.3123.9 % of GDP · 2016-Q3 · Credit to households, AustraliaQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.470.2 % of GDP · 2001-Q1 · Credit to households, AustraliaQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.570.6 % of GDP · 2001-Q1 · Credit to non-financial corporations, AustraliaQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A
     • 1.661.7 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to non-financial corporations, AustraliaQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A

     One BIS call, Australia, both sectors and both units. The +6.6% year-on-year growth in the first key figure is ours, computed from the levels in this response; the BIS does not publish it, and the page says so.

     • 1.7114.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, AustraliaQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.866 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, advanced economies aggregateQ.5R.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.9127 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, SwitzerlandQ.CH.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.10100 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, CanadaQ.CA.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1194.6 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, NetherlandsQ.NL.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1287.8 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, NorwayQ.NO.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1385.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, KoreaQ.KR.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1482.5 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, DenmarkQ.DK.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1582.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, SwedenQ.SE.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1672.6 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, United KingdomQ.GB.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1767.2 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, United StatesQ.US.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1860.8 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, JapanQ.JP.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.1959.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, FranceQ.FR.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2047.9 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Credit to households, GermanyQ.DE.H.A.M.770.A

     Same call, the household ratio across the economies charted. Households here include non-profit institutions serving households and unincorporated businesses.

   • API Calls: · extracted 16 September 2026
     BIS:WS_TChttps://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/WS_TC/Q.AU.H+N.A.M.770+XDC.A?startPeriod=1995&format=csv

     • 1.2163.4 % of GDP · 1998-Q4 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2262.9 % of GDP · 1998-Q4 · Australia - Credit to Non-financial corporations from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2370.2 % of GDP · 2001-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2470.6 % of GDP · 2001-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Non-financial corporations from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2571.4 % of GDP · 2001-Q2 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2668 % of GDP · 2001-Q2 · Australia - Credit to Non-financial corporations from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A
     • 1.27114.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.2861.7 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Non-financial corporations from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.N.A.M.770.A
     • 1.293,299.56 A$ billion · 2026-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - domestic currency - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.XDC.A
     • 1.303,095.503 A$ billion · 2025-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - domestic currency - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.XDC.A

     BIS total credit to Australian households and to non-financial corporations, every quarter from 1995-Q1, at market value and adjusted for breaks. Household credit exceeds corporate credit in every quarter from 2001-Q2 onward; the two also crossed briefly at 1998-Q4. All observations are OBS_STATUS A, COLLECTION E (end of period), VALUATION M (market value), and are not seasonally adjusted.

   • API Calls: · extracted 16 September 2026
     BIS:WS_TChttps://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/WS_TC/Q..H.A.M.770.A?startPeriod=2026&format=csv

     • 1.31127 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Switzerland - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.CH.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.32114.1 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Australia - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.AU.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.33100 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Canada - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.CA.H.A.M.770.A
     • 1.3466 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Advanced economies - Credit to Households and NPISHs from All sectors at Market value - Percentage of GDP - Adjusted for breaksQ.5R.H.A.M.770.A

     BIS credit to households as a share of GDP for every reference area the BIS publishes the series for, at 2026-Q1: 48 series, of which only Switzerland is above Australia. 5R is the BIS advanced-economy aggregate, a weighted aggregate of its member economies rather than an arithmetic mean. National sources, instrument coverage and break history differ by economy.

   Source: Bank for International Settlements, Credit to the non-financial sector (BIS:WS_TC). Extracted 2026-09-15. Reproduced under the BIS Terms of Permitted Use of BIS Statistics; this is not an official BIS publication and the BIS does not endorse it.
2. [2]International Monetary Fund, Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI), Core and Additional Indicators, March quarter 2026
   Released 2026-09-15
   Vintage: Observations carry a publication timestamp of 2026-09-15T06:04:42Z. National compilers revise supervisory returns without notice, and reporting economies publish on different schedules, so the latest available quarter differs by country.
   • API Calls: · extracted 15 September 2026
     IMF.STA:FSIC(13.0.1)https://api.imf.org/external/sdmx/2.1/data/FSIC/AUS.REM+S1+S11+S123+S128+S1281+S1282+S129+S12CFSI+S12R+S14..A+M+Q

     • 2.1198.08 % of gross disposable income · 2019-Q2 · Household debt to gross disposable income, AustraliaAUS.S14.FSI157_AFSI_PT.Q
     • 2.2183.769 % of gross disposable income · 2026-Q1 · Household debt to gross disposable income, AustraliaAUS.S14.FSI157_AFSI_PT.Q
     • 2.3109.28 % of GDP · 2026-Q1 · Household debt to GDP, AustraliaAUS.S14.FSI179_AFSI_PT.Q

     The Australian FSI call, household sector. The IMF's 109.3% of GDP is not the BIS's 114.1% for the same quarter: different instruments, different denominators. The page keeps each chart inside one producer and never mixes them in a figure.

   International Monetary Fund. Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI), Core and Additional Indicators, IMF.STA:FSIC(13.0.1), https://data.imf.org/en/Data-Explorer?datasetUrn=IMF.STA:FSI. Accessed on 15 September 2026. Used under the IMF Copyright and Usage Terms — all rights reserved; not a Creative Commons licence.
3. [3]Bank for International Settlements, Debt service ratios for the private non-financial sector, March quarter 2026
   Vintage: Derived by the BIS on a unified methodology from aggregate debt, income, average interest rate and average remaining maturity. These are modelled ratios, not observed repayment data, and the BIS advises comparing them over time rather than across countries by level.
   • API Calls: · extracted 15 September 2026
     BIS:WS_DSRhttps://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/WS_DSR/Q.AU+US+GB+CA+NL+SE+NO+DK+FR+DE+JP.H+P+N?startPeriod=1999&format=csv

     • 3.113.4 % of income · 2021-Q1 · Debt service ratio, households, AustraliaQ.AU.H
     • 3.215.7 % of income · 2026-Q1 · Debt service ratio, households, AustraliaQ.AU.H
     • 3.340.2 % of income · 2026-Q1 · Debt service ratio, non-financial corporations, AustraliaQ.AU.N

     The BIS debt service call. The BIS states these are derived on a unified methodology and are more meaningful compared over time than across countries in level, which is why the cross-country chart on this page uses credit to GDP instead.

   • Read from the publication · extracted 17 September 2026

     Read from the publication, not from a call: Debt service ratios — overview, 'About': 'For practical purposes, it is more meaningful to compare national DSRs over time (eg by removing country-specific means) rather than to compare their absolute levels, which are difficult to pinpoint.' — https://www.bis.org/statistics/dsr.htm

     The BIS's own words, for the two places this page says the BIS says them. Written after Braddon's 2026-09-17 review: 'Wherever we say "BIS advises" or similar we should include a citation of where the publisher does say that.' An unsourced 'the BIS warns' is us putting words in a publisher's mouth. The page was fetched on 2026-09-17 and the sentence quoted above is verbatim from it; the same page says it a second time under 'Documentation and sources', in slightly different words. Read from the publication — this is a methodology statement and there is no call that returns it.

   Source: Bank for International Settlements, Debt service ratios for the private non-financial sector (BIS:WS_DSR). Extracted 2026-09-15. Reproduced under the BIS Terms of Permitted Use of BIS Statistics; this is not an official BIS publication and the BIS does not endorse it.
4. [4]Bank for International Settlements, Central bank policy rates, August 2026
   Vintage: End-of-month observations. The Australian series is the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate target from 2 August 1990 onwards; earlier observations use a different instrument and are not shown on these pages.
   • API Calls: · extracted 16 September 2026
     BIS:WS_CBPOLhttps://stats.bis.org/api/v1/data/WS_CBPOL/M.AU?startPeriod=2020&format=csv

     • 4.10.1 % per annum · 2020-11 · Central bank policy rates - Australia - Monthly - End of periodM.AU
     • 4.24.1 % per annum · 2026-03 · Central bank policy rates - Australia - Monthly - End of periodM.AU
     • 4.34.35 % per annum · 2026-08 · Central bank policy rates - Australia - Monthly - End of periodM.AU

     BIS central bank policy rates, Australia, monthly and end of period. The BIS compilation note records the series as the RBA cash rate target from 2 August 1990 onwards. The rate is 4.10 per cent at the end of March 2026 and 4.35 per cent from May 2026.

   Source: Bank for International Settlements, Central bank policy rates (BIS:WS_CBPOL); original data from the Reserve Bank of Australia. Extracted 2026-09-15. Reproduced under the BIS Terms of Permitted Use of BIS Statistics; this is not an official BIS publication and the BIS does not endorse it.

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