falling behind on their mortgage repayments has hit an eight-year high as persistent inflation and high interest rates put many households'Mortgage Market Index on Thursday, which says 0.48 per cent of mortgage holders are in arrears by 30-59 days, as of the first quarter of the year.
The proportion of home owners falling behind on their mortgage repayments has hit an eight-year high. "Historically, arrears increase in the first quarter due to Christmas spending, but this increase is smaller than in prior years," Fitch said. On the other end of the spectrum, the proportion of mortgage holders ahead on their payments dropped from 25.4 to 21.5 per cent, bringing it back down to the level it was several years ago."High repayment rates had resulted from greater refinancing activity and competition in the housing loan market, as cash-rate hikes drove borrowers to seek lower interest rates."
Monthly inflation hit its highest level since November yesterday, raising fears that the Reserve Bank's next move will be to increase interest rates, rather than drop them.Just under 40 per cent of economists are now predicting a rate hike in August, up from 10 per cent before the ABS's inflation data.