Household Debt Increased To 89.1% In 2015

Malaysia’s household debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio increased to 89.1% last year, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). Despite that, the ability to service debt remains sound.

According to the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2015 released recently, the increased household debts are supported by a broadly stable domestic employment and income outlook.

The share of borrowings by households with incomes of less than RM3,000 a month dropped to 23.6% of total household debt from 24.3% in 2014 and 28.4% in 2013.

The aggregate leverage, a measurement of debt to annual income for households has been hovering around seven times since macro-prudential measures were implemented. Also, a moderation in the level of indebtedness will likely be gradual, given the average nine years remaining maturity of household debt.

Households that are highly leveraged have more than half of their loans in fixed-rate financing, which reduced the sensitivities to changes in financing cost. The leverage levels of higher-income groups have remained stable at three times.

Household balance sheets remained healthy as financial assets grew faster than debt in 2015. Financial assets of households grew by RM97.9 billion in 2015, compared with an increase of RM70.4 billion in debt.

Deposits and deposit-like instruments were the main form of financial assets for households. In dealing with higher living costs, households have been dipping into money that would have gone into savings or unit trusts, which resulted in deposit growth of 4.8% in 2015.

Another reason for the moderate increase in household financial assets was the sustained demand for housing, including first-time house buyers against a backdrop of elevated house prices.

Household wealth is estimated to have risen by a compounded annual growth rate of about 11% over the past five years as more households look to investments in properties to help finance children’s education, provide some financial security for the next generation and prepare for retirement, including medical costs.

The household assets-to-debt ratio remained above two times, indicating continued resilience. The household liquid assets-to-debt ratio has remained in excess of 1.4 times, preserving ready access to funds for households to meet debt obligations.

In the report, BNM notions that the risk to the domestic financial stability from household leverage was being mitigated by sound underwriting standards and risk management by banks, which accounted for 80% of financing to households.

The average lending rates for banks in 2015 was 5.1%, compared with 4.9% in 2014.

Supervision over lending by non-banks has led to a decrease in the amount of personal loans granted by such institutions, rising only by RM3 billion, compared with RM4.4 billion in 2014 and RM10.2 billion in 2013.

The average financing amount disbursed also declined to RM22,000, compared with levels as high as RM68,000 previously.

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