Australia’s “scary” household debt problem

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The Australian’s James Kirby has belatedly discovered that Australians are drowning in household debt, and that this places the economy at future risk:

It must rank as one of the scariest numbers in the housing market, yet it’s rarely mentioned…

The figure is the debt servicing ratio for households [from the Bank for International Settlements] and right now, Australia’s national “number” is running way too high – it is almost twice the level of comparable “advanced” economies, such as the US, Europe and Japan.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.