A STAGGERING one million Australian households will experience mortgage stress and it will no longer be confined to just battlers, according to Fujitsu Consulting.
There are currently over 7.4 million households in
By March next year, Fujitsu consulting director Martin North said there will be over 1 million households in mortgage stress, despite the recent interest rate cut and house price falls.
“There was some good news in September thanks to rate cuts and tax changes, and as a result the number of households in Mortgage Stress fell by 10% to 800,000. Those in Severe Stress fell by 19% to 256,000, whilst those in mild stress fell by 5% to 538,000. Consumers were pleased to hear about the 1% rate cut in early October, and were hopeful of more cuts later,” he added.
But North said growing unemployment and the global financial market difficulties will all conspire to bring more households into some degree of mortgage stress.
“The net result is a significant rise at 27% to over 1 million households suffering some degree of mortgage stress by March 2009, and a 42% rise in Severe Stressed households thanks to increasing household costs, credit debt and job losses,” he continued.
Fujitsu Consulting has also found mortgage stress is no longer confined to the battlers.
“Affluent stress is on the rise, thanks to further stock market falls, margin calls and rising costs of living.
“In addition, a number of “sea change” suburbs are being hit by forced sales as superannuation returns are dropping,” he concluded.
Australian Property Journal
