The recovery in property prices, led by surging population growth and a severe housing shortage, could prove short-lived if unemployment rises and the Reserve Bank keeps the cash rate high, economists warn.
The proportion of pandemic-era home buyers bailing out within two years and selling for a loss more than tripled to 9.7 per cent in the June quarter from a year earlier.
Australian households are yet to feel the full impact from the Reserve Bank’s tightening cycle on mortgage repayments, with economists tipping the first half of 2024.
Mortgage arrears are climbing as borrowers run down their savings and collide with a tighter refinancing market that has escalated financial stress, S&P Global says.
The rising risk of mortgage defaults across the country’s biggest housing markets is unlikely to trigger large-scale distressed sales as low unemployment, increasing demand for property and scarce supply will stabilise those same markets.
More people, more input, more cooks in the kitchen. That’s ultimately the price the Reserve Bank of Australia will pay for a couple of years of bad or miscalculated calls, made in response to the pandemic.
Home loans Fixed-rate borrowers have been insulated from 10 straight RBA interest rate increases. But with credit worth $350 billion close to expiring, the impact could be profound, writes Michael Read.
Sydney has overtaken Tokyo to be the most expensive city in the Asia-Pacific in which to fit out an office. Shortages of skilled resources, material price increases and supply chain disruption are driving inflation in a construction industry .
