Martin North from Digital Finance Analytics has released a video discussing its latest mortgage stress results to April, which recorded a sharp lift as another 200,000 households fell into stress since February:
North’s surveys are telling that assuming Australia’s unemployment rates rises to 10% – as forecast by the Australian Treasury – then mortgage stress would rise to 41.7% by August, around 9% above February’s reading.
What is particularly sobering is that North has taken account of the estimated 310,000 households that have postponed their mortgage repayments in agreement with their lenders.
Stress remains concentrated in young families, including recent first time buyers:
Mortgage stress is also broad-based, with all jurisdictions having mortgage stress rates running above 30%:
The housing picture is getting more precarious by the day the longer the coronavirus shutdown drags on.
