THE number of homes National Australia Bank has had to repossess, in the wake of a run of recent interest rate rises, is lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Bank CEO Ross McEwan said that while 8000 customers were currently deemed at risk of losing their property, just 14 mortgage holders actually needed immediate help.<\/p>\n
“The number of mortgages we have in possession, which only happens after a long period of trying to work with a customer, is below not only pre-pandemic levels but also the 10-year average,” Mr McEwan said.<\/p>\n
“That’s not to suggest some customers aren’t hurting, they are, and we are here to help.”<\/p>\n
Mr McEwan used an address at and Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce function to step up calls for governments at all levels to find a better way to address planning and approvals in order to deliver more housing.<\/p>\n
He welcomed National Cabinet’s bid to streamline housing approvals, planning and zoning but criticised inconsistent rules across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
The process of writing a home loan can differ depending on where a buyer lives.<\/p>\n
“A co-ordinated response from federal, state and territory governments is needed to implement faster, consistent and simpler planning and approvals,” Mr McEwan said.<\/p>\n
“This relates to both land development and residential construction.”<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, National Cabinet agreed to a range of rental market reforms and incentives to build new dwellings.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also set a 2024 start date for a scheme to help 40,000 low-income families buy a home.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mr McEwan backed predictions Australia won’t fall into a recession and tipped the economy to improve by the second half of 2024.<\/p>\n
He revealed NAB customers were, on average, saving an extra $300 a month to cope with the rising cost of living by cutting down on things like takeaway food and car trips to save on fuel.<\/p>\n
“Things are harder, and will continue to feel harder for some time, because of the difficult but necessary actions taken to get inflation down,” Mr McEwan said.<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank of Australia has been steadily raising interest rates since May 2022 in a bid to beat down inflation, which is currently running at an annual pace of six per cent, compared to one per cent before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.<\/p>\n
Mr McEwan also called on telecommunications companies to do more to stop scams while rejecting suggestions Australia should follow the UK’s lead and introduce laws requiring banks to reimburse victims.<\/p>\n
“It hasn’t stopped scams in the UK, they’ve gone up,” he said. “The dollar value may have gone down but the numbers have gone up.”<\/p>\n
NAB recently stopped including links in SMS alerts to its customers and Mr McEwan called on others to do the same.<\/p>\n
He also warned customers to closely guard their passwords and not to give personal details over the phone.<\/p>\n