Mortgage holders ‘doing it tough’: survey

More than a quarter of Australian mortgage holders have seen their home loan repayments rise by more than six per cent since the start of the year.

That’s according to research from online financial broker Savvy, which found 25.7 per cent of respondents witnessed repayments lift by above six per cent, while 18 per cent saw repayments tick up between three and 10 per cent.

Around six per cent were hit with a rise of between 11 and 20 per cent, with one per cent reporting an increase of more than 21 per cent, it found.

Seventy-seven per cent of the 1003 respondents had some level of increase to their mortgage repayments, according to the company.

Savvy chief executive Bill Tsouvalas said the results showed economics in action as interest rates increased in a bid to dampen inflation.

“That is of little comfort to Australians already doing it tough and set to do it tougher as the RBA puts the brakes on a little more each month,” Mr Tsouvalas said.

The Reserve Bank of Australia lifted its key cash interest rate to 1.85 per cent from 1.35 per cent at its August meeting, with the big four banks all passing on the rate hike to mortgage holders

In its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, the RBA noted financial markets were pricing in a rise in the cash rate to around three per cent by the end of this year, and around 3.25 per cent in early 2023.

The RBA in the statement reiterated its forecast for annual inflation to reach 7.75 per cent at the end of this year, in line with Federal Treasury estimates.

– BY AAP