$17k a month: How much your neighbours are paying for a mortgage

Queensland families hardest hit by interest rate surges are paying more than $6,000 more a month for mortgages since hikes first began, exclusive data has found. SEE EVERY SUBURB MAPPED

Queensland families hardest hit by interest rate surges are paying over $17,000 a month in repayments, a rise of over $6,000 since first hikes began in May 2022.

And the salaries required to remain mortgage stress free have also climbed, with households in many suburbs needing a combined income of more than $270,000 to cope.

PropTrack analysis of over 800 Queensland suburbs found monthly mortgage repayments are hitting double digit thousands in four of them for homes bought just before the rate hikes, but all are feeling the pinch.

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The data showed Sunshine Beach in Noosa with the state’s biggest monthly repayment figure at $17,290, up $6,120 a month in just over a year and a half of rate rises, with Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast escalating to $12,700 a month or $152,400 a year – which is almost equivalent to the income level required to buy a typical house in Brisbane now.

A typical Brisbane $620,000 mortgage taken out in April 2022 has seen monthly repayment requirements rise by over 50 per cent thanks to 13 rate increases to November. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt.

Across the capital, PropTrack economist Angus Moore found New Farm faced the biggest costs, requiring an extra $3,890 more a month than April 2022 for a repayment that’s now $10,990, while in Hamilton it was $10,300 a month compared to $6,660 they would have been paying before rate hikes – a rise of $3,640.

“Certainly they’re the ones facing the largest increases in mortgage payments,” Mr Moore said. “Those with larger mortgages are obviously seeing big jumps in what they have to pay.”

He said suburbs with higher wealth levels “may have a bit more capacity to weather those higher payments”.

“That’s not to say it’s not going to hurt. Even just that 25 basis point increase is $300 or more extra a month (for some) which, even for a high income household, is nothing to sneeze at.”

The November 0.25pp rate hike pushed four Brisbane suburbs over the $4,000 a month repayment level for the first time, with Elimbah, Munruben, Scarborough and Tingalpa now carrying a circa $1,440 increase since April 2022.

The salaries required to remain mortgage stress free have also climbed with rates, which in Indooroopilly means household income above $275,000 to afford the $6,870 in monthly repayments – a rise of over $2400 or about 54 per cent since April 2022.

In Grange, where repayments were now estimated at over $7,000 a month for a home bought for $1.43m before the rate rise, income needs to be above $280,000 to cope.

Repayments on units in places like Camp Hill came in at about half the cost of a house, $3,380 versus $6,870 – but you’d still need a $135,000 salary to stay above mortgage stress level in the apartment.

PropTrack economist Angus Moore says the extra mortgage repayments will be tough for any household.

“They may be able to juggle,” Mr Moore said, “but it is certainly an enormous amount of extra repayments that they’re facing, there’s no doubt about that. It will be tough for any household to find that sort of money.”

A typical Brisbane homeowner with a mortgage of around $620,000 was also facing an uphill challenge, with PropTrack data finding a more than 50 per cent jump in their repayment costs since rates started rising.

In one of Brisbane’s most affordable suburbs, Darra, a family that bought in April 2022 was now having to put $1,070 more towards their monthly home loan repayment which hit $3,020 after Tuesday’s 13th RBA hike.

Kippa-Ring, Lawnton, Camira, Fitzgibbon, Springfield, Dakabin, Heritage Park and Sandstone Point have also broken through $3,000 a month now for mortgage repayments on mid-range home bought just before rate hikes.

FBAA MD Peter White says ‘it didn’t have to be this way” – increases could have come at a slower pace.

Finance Brokers Association of Australia managing director Peter White said rates rise and fall but “the challenge this time is that there has been so many rises over such a short term”.

“It didn’t have to be this way. The RBA should have acted sooner so rates rose at a slower pace enabling borrowers to adjust. Borrowers now must look for ways to adjust their own budgets to ensure they can keep up with what in many cases are huge increases in their monthly repayments.”

He said people were cutting costs, taking on extra work and refinancing to keep their homes and investment properties.

“If a borrower is struggling to meet repayments they should first ask their lender for a lower rate. If the lender refuses, they should contact their broker to find out their refinancing options. It is important to know that often it’s not the big banks that can do the best deals. Finance brokers have access to many non-bank and second-tier lenders.”

Buyers priced out of cities had many options still available for affordable property across the regions.

SEE THE LATEST PROPTRACK HOME PRICE INDEX

Mr Moore said there were still many affordable suburbs in Queensland, with the eight cheapest repayment levels still sitting under $800 a month in Tara ($670), Collinsville ($680), Charleville ($700), Mount Morgan ($720), Dysart ($740), Moura ($760), Blackwater ($770) and Monto ($780).

“There are some more affordable parts of regional Queensland, particularly if you look at the units. You can find $200,000 units in parts of regional Queensland which means mortgage repayments on that are still $1,000 a month, which is much more affordable than many other parts of the country.”

The calculations worked off what a typical borrower would have paid on a 30-year loan with 20 per cent deposit in April 2022 at variable rates, and where that borrower would be almost one and a half year’s later in October and post Tuesday’s 0.25 percentage point rise.

He said it “assumes the borrower has been on a variable rate and has paid off their loan at the scheduled rate”.

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Originally published as $17k a month: How much your neighbours are paying for a mortgage