Mortgage arrears rates charged higher at the fastest rate in nearly two years in January, as lenders warn that stubbornly high inflation will keep pressure on households, and on the Reserve Bank of Australia to hold rates for longer.

Bloomberg’s data shows that issues of residential mortgage-backed securities – mortgages packaged as bonds and sold to investors that pay the accrued interest – arrears rates jumped from 1.4 per cent to 1.63 per cent.