Any rise a risk to mortgage

EVEN a small rise in interest rates would put more than 10,000 Queensland households at risk of defaulting on their home loans.

Ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board meeting today, figures reveal more than 144,000 homeowners in the state are in mortgage stress and about one in five are close to default.

Just a 0.5 per cent increase would throw more than 150,000 Queensland homeowners into stress and 10,191 would be close to being forced to default or sell up, according to analysis by Digital Finance Analytics.

Increasing rates by 2 per cent would put more than 12,200 people at risk of losing their homes.

Across the nation, a quarter of households, or more than 820,000, are estimated to be in mortgage stress, which is up from 810,000 in July.

Nearly 53,000 households across the country risk default in the next 12 months.

Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North said flat incomes and underemployment meant rising costs were not managed by many homeowners.

“Despite the record low cash rate, many households are only just managing to pay the bills, and rising power and childcare costs are making this more challenging,” Mr North said.

“We are on a knife edge, and even small lifts in rates will have a significant impact.”