AAP

New data showing weak lending finance is evidence of an economy slowing after the government stimulus has worn off and could spare borrowers an April interest rate rise, economists say.

Total personal finance commitments fell 1.5 per cent in January, seasonally adjusted, to $6.921 billion, from $7.028 billion in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Monday.

The fixed loan component of the data fell 2.1 per cent, its fifth straight monthly fall since August 2009.

Fixed loans - or loans of a fixed amount - make up 46 per cent of total personal finance commitments.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the data pointed to a slowing economy and could be enough to stay the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) from raising the cash rate from four to 4.25 per cent.

"Overall it's a pretty poor result and, while you have to take it with a grain of salt, there's not much to be encouraged about," he said.

"It paints a picture of an economy that has taken a leg back post-stimulus, suggesting that the post-stimulus environment is not as conducive to growth as we saw last year," Mr Sebastian.

"I think the RBA will really need to tread lightly on their rate-hiking profile given the weaker numbers that we're seeing.

The ASB data also showed housing loan commitments fell five per cent to $14.737 billion in January from $15.519 billion in December.

Total commercial finance fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.6 per cent in January, to $26.332 billion, down from $26.767 billion in December.

Lease finance was down 10.3 per cent in January to $363 million compared with $405 million the month before.

"Not only is lending finance weak overall, it's weak across all the sectors, Mr Sebastian said.

"There's no doubt the housing sector is coming off the boil quite rapidly and that can have multiplier effects in terms of confidence.

"I think it's probably the month (January) that is going to be quite volatile. It's the month when stimulus finally came off.

On January 1, the federal government reduced its enhanced first home owners grant from $14,000 to $7000 for newly constructed homes.

The enhanced rate was reduced from $21,000 to $14,000 for newly constructed homes on October 1.

In December, the federal government's 50 per cent tax break on business investment expired.

4Cast Financial Markets economist Michael Turner said the RBA would not be influenced by the weaker lending finance data.

"It's a decrease, but it's a very choppy series overall," he said.

"The RBA tends to focus on its own credit data, which they pull from all the financial institutions. It tends to be less choppy and lets you know how much lending is going on in net terms."

On Friday the RBA said the total value of credit and charge card transactions, including advances, fell by 22 per cent in January.

Australians spent $17.18 billion on credit and charge cards in January, compared to $22.02 billion in December, according to the figures which are not seasonally adjusted.