First-home buyers in growing suburbs on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne are the most at risk of struggling with rising interest rates.
. Economists and the Reserve Bank expect the majority of mortgage holders will be able to cope with higher rates thanks to pandemic savings.
In Wollert, on the outskirts of northern Melbourne, the median price for a four-bedroom house is $685,000. It’s in the electorate of Scullin, where 65 per cent of mortgage holders were in mortgage stress.“If you’ve got a $600,000 mortgage, and interest rates rise by possibly worst-case scenario, but some people are talking about 3 per cent over the next two to three years, that would mean you’re paying $1500 a month more than you are at the moment,” he said.
The Coalition’s $250 cost of living payments will start hitting the bank accounts of the six million Australians on aged pensions, income support payments and veterans on Wednesday as the much-awaited inflation data is published.“Global factors such as high oil prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain disruptions due to COVID are putting pressure on household budgets here at home,” Frydenberg said.