What Housing Bubble? Most Australians Couldn't Afford $100 Mortgage-Payment Hike

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com

A new study shows 57% of Australia mortgage holders could not handle a $100 increase in their loan repayment.

Stress has turned up in even the wealthiest cities.

But who is truly wealthy? Paper profits on homes with enormous mortgages does not constitute wealth.

Please consider $100 Tipping Point for 57% of Mortgage Holders.

A staggering 57% of mortgage holders could not handle a $100 increase in their loan repayments, according to new research by Finder.com.au.

This additional $100 is equivalent to an interest rate rise of just 0.45% based on the national average mortgage of $360,600. This means the average standard variable rate of 4.83% would only have to rise to 5.28% to put more than half of mortgage holders in stress.

“The typical mortgage holder will begin to struggle once interest rates reach around 5.28% – that’s a pretty small window before borrowing costs start to hurt,” she said.

With the research also showing that 39% of all mortgages are interest-only, this highlights why the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) have shown some concern, she added.

Comparing genders, 63% of women and 50% of men would struggle to repay their mortgages with an increase of less than $100 per month.

Across the states, South Australian borrowers were the worst placed with 70% saying they could not handle an increase of less than $100 per month. This figure was lower in New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia at 59% and further dropped to 51% in Victoria.

Stress in Wealthiest Areas

Also consider Severe mortgage stress is cropping up in some of Australia’s richest suburbs.

Severe mortgage stress is cropping up in some of Australia’s richest suburbs, revealing that wealthy Australians have been guzzling at the debt fountain. Thousands of households in suburbs like Mosman, Brighton and Nedlands are in mortgage stress, with some at risk of mortgage default in the next 12 months, according to new data from Digital Financial Analytics.

Wealth is impossible to see if the person doesn’t want to flaunt it, and easy enough to fake. You can mortgage yourself to buy a grand home and the car to match, and have the trappings of wealth while actually being so far in debt you’re in financial hell.

Looking rich and being rich are not the same thing at all, but when times are good, it’s difficult to tell the difference. As the saying goes, ‘When the tide goes out, you see who’s not wearing any swimmers’.

Financial Hell Coming

When top finally blows off the Australian housing bubble, the results will be devastating.