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This was published 6 months ago
Up to your eyeballs in debt? Join the club as WA mortgages break record
On average, West Australians are now taking out mortgages worth $538,000, the highest figure on record.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data for April highlights Perth’s runaway housing market, with the average new mortgage amount nearly $32,000 higher than it was three months prior.
Since last September, the average new mortgage in WA has increased nearly $8000 each month on average.
When records began, in April 2006, the average loan size was $229,000.
The new analysis by WA Senator Dean Smith will inform part of the federal parliament’s select committee on cost of living.
“Many WA households are already in a vulnerable position and could be forced over the edge if there are further rate rises by the RBA, which continues to do the government’s heavy lifting for it,” Smith said.
Average loan sizes for owner-occupier dwellings, by state. Credit: ABS
“Month on month, it becomes harder for homeowners to make their dreams a reality in WA; for some, it is now virtually impossible”.
WA Council of Social Services chief executive Louise Giolitto says housing pressure is one of several factors leading to a 50 per cent increase in demand on service providers such as Foodbank, Anglicare and the Red Cross.
“They are overwhelmed by people seeking assistance including people with mortgages. Traditionally, before COVID, we would never see those people in our system,” Giolitto said.
Senator Dean Smith. Credit: Trevor Collens
“So while paying their mortgage, they don’t have enough additional money for school fees or the essentials like food.”
Byford, in Perth’s south-east, has Australia’s highest mortgage delinquency rate – the proportion of households falling behind on their mortgage repayments – at 5.33 per cent.
Albany (4.1 per cent) and Balga (3.97 per cent) also made the top 10.
Training and Workforce Development Minister Simone McGurk on Monday highlighted measures currently in place aimed at easing cost-of-living pressures.
“We’re doing what we can, both governments, in relation to household energy credits and also for small business … we’ve got the student assistant payments,” she said.
Giolitto says service providers are bracing for house prices to continue to rise.
“While we appreciate the energy credits, we need systems that are really targeted at families most in need like the rent relief project they announced at the end of last year,” she said.
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