Mortgage stress climbs beyond million but still below pre-Covid peaks
More than 1 million Australians were estimated to be at risk of mortgage stress in the three months to the end of October, according to polling and market research company Roy Morgan.
The finding, which was equivalent to 22.6 per cent of all mortgage holders, comes after eight consecutive increases in mortgages with another expected in December when the Reserve bank board next meets.
Roy Morgan said the three-month period that they investigated included two interest rate increases, one at 0.5 per cent and another at 0.25 per cent.
While there had been a steady increase in people at risk of mortgage stress, Roy Morgan said it was still well below the levels during the 2009 global financial crisis when 1.4 million Australians were considered at risk of mortgage stress.
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It was also just below the long-term average of the past 15 years of 22.8 per cent.
“Mortgage stress dropped to record lows during 2021 as record low interest rates, tens of billions of dollars of government stimulus and the measures taken by banks and financial institutions to support borrowers in financial distress combined to reduce the number of mortgage holders at risk,” the company said.
“The number of mortgage holders considered extremely at risk has increased to 619,000, or 14.4 per cent, in the three months to October which remains clearly below the long-term average over the last 15 years of 659,000, or 15.9 per cent.”
