Revealed: The Queenslanders struggling to pay their mortgages

The RBA’s rate pause will offer only ‘psychological relief’ to struggling households, with more pain tipped to come. These are the suburbs where people are most worried about paying their mortgages.

Mortgage and rental stress is at record levels in Queensland and will continue to worsen despite the Reserve Bank of Australia keeping interest rates on hold this month.

Households were offered a second-straight reprieve on Tuesday when the RBA board, led by governor Philip Lowe for the penultimate time, elected to keep rates at 4.10 per cent.

Leading economists warn mortgage, rental and financial stress will continue to worsen as previous rate hikes begin to bite.

Figures complied by Digital Finance Analytics to June 30 reveal 43.4 per cent of Queensland households are facing mortgage stress, with Toowoomba and Ipswich the regions hardest hit.

More than 12,000 households in Toowoomba are reporting mortgage stress. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

A staggering 57.5 per cent of Queenslanders are suffering rental stress, while 46.3 per cent of people are generally stressed about their financial situation.

Mortgage worries in Queensland remain below the national average of 48 per cent while rental stress is on par.

Concern is highest in the Toowoomba postcode 4350 where 12,011 households are reporting stress about paying mortgages and 11,099 hold concerns about paying rent.

The Pine Mountain postcode of 4306 is the next most-stressed region, with 8408 households suffering mortgage stress.

At Southport on the Gold Coast 10,452 renters say they are stressed about cashflow.

Mortgage stress is highest among young growing families, many who are recent first-home buyers.

Many Ipswich residents are also worried about paying their mortgages. Picture: Rob Williams

Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North said Tuesday’s rate pause would offer “psychological relief”, but no financial help for Queenslanders already struggling with previous hikes.

“Stress has been rising due to costs of living for all households and interest rate rises for mortgage holders,” he said.

‘There is a lag of several months so even if there are no further RBA hikes stress will continue to rise – it’s never been higher.”

The RBA has increased interest rates 12 times in the past 15 months, rising from 0.10 per cent in April 2022 to 4.10 per cent this month.

Residents in Brisbane suburbs like Camp Hill and Geebung are also feeling the pinch. Picture: Darren England

The increases have added $1701 per month to the cost of a $750,000 loan, RateCity analysis reveals.

Mr North tipped interest rates would remain high as large-mortgage households slowly ease discretionary spending. with large mortgages slowly booming house prices inflation steadily slows household spending.

“We are in a higher for longer environment – the average mortgage is way bigger than it used to be – driven by bad policy, including lack of supply and high migration,” he said.

“We are also beginning to see the first signs of mortgage delinquency and foreclosure on the rise.”

The RBA on Tuesday said it would keep rates on hold while it assesses the effect of previously increasing rates, but again warned more pain might come.

“Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable time frame,” Dr Lowe said.

“The board will continue to pay close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in household spending, and the outlook for inflation and the labour market.

“The board remains resolute in its determination to return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that.”