Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Jan-25

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,595,000 mortgage holders (27.9) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in December 2024. This represents a second straight monthly increase since October but is still 2.4% lower than the June figures prior to the Stage 3 income tax cuts. Modelling by Roy Morgan shows that the number of mortgages ‘At Risk’ will fall by 26,000 in February 2025 to 1,569,000 (27.4% of mortgage holders) if the Reserve Bank drops interest rates to 4.10% at its first board meeting for the year. The number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 788,000 since May 2022, when the RBA began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered to be ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now numbered 973,000 (17.4% of mortgage holders), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 10 years of 14.6%. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with more than 60,000 Australians each year, including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA