Time to brace for a mortgage mauling
SOME HOMEOWNERS WILL PAY $500+ A MONTH
We’d love for the rates to stay where they are at, but ed ultimately we ne our house to start our family
HOMEOWNERS in almost 400 suburbs across Queensland may have to find more than $500 extra a month to pay their mortgage if the official cash rate hits 2 percentage points – a forecast not out of the question if inflation is not brought under control.
Analysis by Proptrack has revealed there are 377 suburbs across the state where a 2 per cent rise will drain more than $500 from the monthly budget, with a staggering 106 suburbs facing the prospect of finding an extra $1000-plus a month.
That is equivalent to a new ipad for school ($500), the weekly rent in Surfers Paradise ($750) or a new fridge ($1000).
It comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the official cash rate from 0.1 to 0.35 per cent on Tuesday, the first increase in 11 years, with experts divided on just how high it will go.
Proptrack economist Angus Moore said Queensland had seen a record number of cashed-up interstate buyers move to the state during the pandemic, forcing locals to compete at higher prices.
He said that while recent purchasers were likely to earn more than a suburb’s average income, which includes young workers and retirees, the number gave a sense of just how hard it would be for an average local to buy a home in the suburbs.
Top of the list is Sunshine Beach, where the median dwelling price (houses and units) soared 45 per cent to $2.15m, with a record $34m beach house sale in the suburb.
There the average income is $74,900.
The average monthly mortgage repayment is $6730 based on an assumed interest rate of 2.43 per cent, but that could increase by $920 if the official cash rate rises to 1 per cent.
That means a two-income household would need to fork out a further 7.4 per cent of their disposable income.