The Age on Saturday ran an article discuss the latest buzz words when talking about the current state of housing affordability in Australia….”mortgage stress” and “rental stress”. It seems that a week doesn’t go by when the media doesn’t talk about the state of housing affordability in Australia.
The articles states that an ABS Census indicates that approx. 140,000 Victorians are experiencing mortgage stress, approx. a further 114,000 Victorians are affected by rental stress and that a recent housing industry analysis indicates that approx. 1 million Australians are experiencing “housing stress”.
On Sunday night, I caught a story on 60 Minutes which interviewed a couple of families dealing with their inability to meet mortgage repayments. One family were very close to losing their house due to their inability to meet repayments due to an adverse change in personal circumstances, one family were adamant that they would do what ever it takes to keep their home and people would be crazy to think otherwise (its the great Australian dream!) and a third couple had resorted to selling their home and reverting to renting.
Out of the three families, the couple who have reverted to renting are by far the ones that seemed “less stressed” – they had eliminated arguing over finances and are now going on a cruise which beforehand would have been impossible.
It’s very clear that many Australian are boxing outside of their weight division when it comes to their mortgage levels and coupled with the threat of possible bank interest rate rises due to US sub-prime market issues or even RBA interest rate rises, it looks like things may get worse before they get better.
If you’re struggling with housing stress, I recommend you have a good look at your finances, maybe seek professional advice and try to get back into a position which will allow you to eliminate the financial stress associated with housing affordability. Whilst it is the great Australian dream, purchasing your own house in this day and age is becoming less and less affordable and more and more stressful.
Good luck,
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