Key findings:
- The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) holds registrations with a potential economic value of $450 billion, which is approximately 20% of Australian GDP*.
- Over 12.8 million searches of the PPSR were conducted in 2023-24, up 7.9% from the previous year.
- There were more than 10.4 million current registrations, an increase of 2.3% from the previous financial year.
- New registrations were driven by motor vehicles at 70.8% of new registrations.
The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) supports the flow of credit, underpinning Australia’s $3.6 trillion credit system by enabling Australian creditors to safeguard their security interests, and empowering consumers and businesses to make informed decisions.
Over the last 10 years, the volume of PPSR registrations has increased, reaching more than 10.4 million in 2023-24. There were 2.2 million new registrations in 2023-24, representing an increase of 7.9% over the previous financial year.
In 2023-24, there was a notable increase in the volume of searches conducted on the PPSR, up 7.9% to 12.8 million searches.
This indicates growing public awareness of the financial and commercial risk protection the PPSR offers when businesses or individuals are considering purchasing a vehicle, lending items or purchasing items on consignment, buying secondhand goods, or dealing with intellectual property, among other things.
The majority of registrations (79%) represent commercial activity – businesses lending to businesses. The most common grantor industry for registrations of business property was ‘construction’, followed by ‘rental, hiring and real estate services’.
Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) Chief Executive, Tim Beresford, said: “The increasing use of the PPSR – as seen in the millions of searches and new registrations being performed each year - and the $450 billion value in registrations overall, are an encouraging sign that businesses and consumers are taking proactive steps to protect themselves and their businesses from security risks and undisclosed debts against property they own or have acquired.
“A PPSR search can cost as little as $2, yet many small business owners are just too busy to step back and consider whether their assets are protected in this way.
“This is increasingly important, especially in times of increased financial and economic pressure when cars, company assets, secondhand goods and intellectual property are often essential items for Australians in conducting their day-to-day lives.
“It was pleasing to see that casual users accounted for 9.1% of searches this year. As a result of these more than 1.1 million searches, the PPSR played a key role in supporting people’s financial decision-making, including by consumers looking to purchase secondhand cars and other goods.
“In 2024-2025, we are implementing a strong focus on individual vulnerability, as the PPSR has been used as a tool for bad actors to make a false claim against assets belonging to another individual or company. For example, we have seen examples of people making false registrations to exercise coercive control over [former] partners and spouses.
"AFSA has allocated 20% of our enforcement resources to ensuring the integrity of the PPSR. We are currently investigating several cases in which civil penalty proceedings may be instituted. We will continue to use the full range of regulatory tools available to us to promote compliance and enforce the law against serious and deliberate misuse of the system.”
The Australian Financial Security Authority administers the Personal Property Securities System under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth). The PPSR is a critical piece of economic infrastructure that promotes access to credit by serving as an online ‘noticeboard’ and official government record of interests held against personal property.
* This estimation is over 4 quarters to March 2024.
Read the report State of the Personal Property Securities System 2023–24.
