Queensland’s most mortgage stressed suburbs revealed

With almost a third of Queensland households facing mortgage stress, new data has revealed that Brisbane suburbs are particularly feeling the pinch.

Almost one third of Queensland households continue to face mortgage stress despite the economic pain of COVID-19 easing across the country.

New data reveals that while the financial position of Queensland households has improved, almost 30 per cent were still reporting some levels of financial stress.

This compares to 45 per cent of households each in Victoria and NSW reporting stress.

Analysis by Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) reveals Queensland’s most stressed suburbs were Aspley, Boondall and Carseldine.

They were followed by Camp Hill, Carina, Goodna, Gailes and Springfield.

DFA Economist Martin North said financial stress encompassed several elements of a household’s situation including wages, cost of living and mortgage repayments.

“Some people are doing really well and others are not,” he said.

“The ones that are doing not so well are suffering from a lack of part-time work while the cost of living is rising.

“A lot of them are first-home buyers and also a number of older families and even some of the affluent households have cash flow issues so it’s not just those in the lower socio-economic groups.”

Digital Finance Analytics analyst Martin North

DFA analysis of national trends reveals mortgage stress fell 0.5 per cent to 37.5 per cent in May, meaning 1.4 million households were experiencing cash flow issues.

However, at 30 per cent, Queensland’s mortgage stress has been on a steady decline since a record high 40 per cent of households reported difficulty in October.

Mr North said it would be an “ongoing grind” to lower the stress rate.

“The mortgage stress levels in Queensland are lower than they are nationally and it’s not quite as bad as Tasmania where half of households are in difficulty,” he said.

“I don’t see that changing anytime soon

“You don’t suddenly see this bounce back and it’s really quite an uncomfortable state of play.”

Mr North said the silver bullet solution was income growth, which the he acknowledged the Reserve Bank of Australia has said is unlikely.

With interest rates to remain near record low levels for the next three years, Mr North said more people would find themselves in financial difficulty.

“Ultimately, they may have to sell their property,” he said.

“We’re already seeing some of the cheap fixed-rate mortgages disappear.”

Labour Force data released on Thursday revealed the withdrawal of JobKeeper in March resulted in 7400 jobs being lost in Queensland, however Treasurer Cameron Dick said the state remained “in a strong position when it comes to employment growth”.