Business lending at a post-pandemic high, rates on hold: what it means for brokers

• Business credit is growing 10.8% year on year (RBA, July 2026), while housing credit growth cools.
• June 2026 was the strongest month for business lending since the pandemic: lending to non-financial businesses rose $19.3bn in the month to $1.26 trillion (APRA data).
• The RBA held the cash rate at 4.35% on 11 August 2026, unanimously, after three increases earlier in the year, and has not ruled out further moves. CBA economists now describe cuts as a 2027 story.
• Unemployment edged higher in the August labour force data, and the RBA's own forecasts have it rising further by the end of 2026.
• The $20,000 instant asset write-off was made permanent for businesses under $10M turnover from 1 July 2026 (passed Parliament 19 August 2026, subject to Royal Assent), alongside a loss carry-back measure.

Growth in business credit with rates on hold means more businesses borrowing for equipment and working capital, and more of them doing it through brokers, because the major banks' commercial appetite is selective and the non-banks are where the speed is. Unemployment edging up and insolvencies at a ten-year high mean the same flow carries more restructures and tax-debt situations than it did a year ago. The enquiry mix brokers should expect for the rest of 2026: equipment finance brought forward by the write-off, working capital, commercial property refinances out of private credit, and ATO-driven restructures.

We generate and verify enquiries across exactly those four flows: business loans, asset finance, commercial finance and ATO tax debt, each sold once to one broker. This page is market commentary for licensed brokers, not financial, credit or tax advice.