Personal finance loans were down 2.6 per cent in August.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday said personal finance commitments, seasonally-adjusted, fell to $7.763 billion in August, from $7.973 billion in July.

However, total commercial loans rose 7.0 per cent to $34.444 billion, from $32.182 billion in July.

Lease finance was down 24.2 per cent to $339 million, compared with $447 million the previous month.

And housing finance for owner occupiers fell 1.9 per cent to $15.038 billion, from $15.322 billion the month before.