Canberra southside suburbs top mortgage stress list

Maya123 said :

reddy84 said :

Acton said :

Garfield said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

It all depends on how much people have had to borrow. Interest on $100,000 at 17% is the same as interest on $400,000 at 4.25%.

You are not accounting for much lower wages in 1989 compared to now, so 17% on $100k then made houses and mortgages far less affordable than 4.25% on $400k now, because the repayments took a greater chunk out of your (lower) after tax disposable income. Many young families at that time couldn’t afford much else after meeting the mortgage payment. Mortgage stress was evidenced by sheets covering the windows because we (us and our neighbours) couldn’t afford curtains. Bean bags were standard furniture. I could go on but you would start rolling your eyes.

Yet my parents and many others could afford to purchase a house on a single income. Home affordability is a much different beast than to what it was a few decades ago.

For interest, what size home did they purchase compared to today’s average size home. Did they have it already curtained, carpeted, landscaped, etc when they moved in, as most home today appear to be (extra upfront expenses)? Or did they live for a time with sheets on the windows, bare floors, bare uneven dirt outside left from the builders and fix all this up as they could afford it? I can remember driving around the new suburbs in the past and seeing all this. I rarely do today. All these add ons are not cheap.

“All these add-ons are not cheap.”

Now you know why Australia has about one trillion dollars in personal debt making it the highest per-capita in the world.

You may be surprised to know that many Canberrans cannot afford to pay their childrens’ school fees.

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

I did my research and according to the NSW / ACT Postcodes in the current phone book there is no entry for the name Tuggeranong or a postcode for Tuggeranong.

Greenway is listed as 2900 but not Tuggeranong.

Dungfungus – you are obviously going to have to do more research than a Phonebook, because ActMapi, Australia Post, Land & Planning, The Public Sector Mapping Agency, ABS CENSUS 2011 and people who live on blocks and houses at the Southern end of Tharwa Drive Tuggeranong say that you are wrong. Only 43 People lived in the Suburb at the last CENSUS, so it’s an easy one to miss. What Suburb do you think people live in once you get outside Canberra’s Suburb outskirts? Duffy becomes Stromlo on the other side of Eucabene Dr and Holt becomes Belconnen on the other side of Drake Brockman, etc , etc.

Digital Financial Analytics use postcodes to generate their statistics.

Are you saying their postcode book is different to mine?

The 43 people that the ABS Census recorded as “living in Tuggeranong” were probably guests at the motel there.

Digital Finance Analytics are not using your Postcode Book, because no one with any credibility uses a Postcode Book for determining these things. They probably use more accurate data sources like those I mentioned earlier. The Postcode Book is like a Brochure for common Postcode Information (not the definitive source from Australia Post). The 43 people from the CENSUS probably live in the homesteads on the rural properties that are in the Suburb of Tuggeranong that you seem to deny exists (despite a mountain of evidence from the experts like ACT Land & Planning and the PSMA)

If you don’t believe the findings of the Mortgage Stress report, then explain their research methodology faults, don’t keep arguing that it must be wrong because you can’t find any evidence in your Postcode Book.

I imagine the researchers got Postcode level data from places like Centrelink, ABS and Major Banks, and my guess is that there is probably at least one person who lives on a Rural Lot in Tuggeranong 2900 who is on a Centrelink benefit and is also behind on their bank repayments. Data that will make both datasets and can be joined. Postcode is not a recommended basis for data, but if organisations only capture and release data for joining at that level than researchers choice is limited.

reddy84 said :

Acton said :

Garfield said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

It all depends on how much people have had to borrow. Interest on $100,000 at 17% is the same as interest on $400,000 at 4.25%.

You are not accounting for much lower wages in 1989 compared to now, so 17% on $100k then made houses and mortgages far less affordable than 4.25% on $400k now, because the repayments took a greater chunk out of your (lower) after tax disposable income. Many young families at that time couldn’t afford much else after meeting the mortgage payment. Mortgage stress was evidenced by sheets covering the windows because we (us and our neighbours) couldn’t afford curtains. Bean bags were standard furniture. I could go on but you would start rolling your eyes.

Yet my parents and many others could afford to purchase a house on a single income. Home affordability is a much different beast than to what it was a few decades ago.

For interest, what size home did they purchase compared to today’s average size home. Did they have it already curtained, carpeted, landscaped, etc when they moved in, as most home today appear to be (extra upfront expenses)? Or did they live for a time with sheets on the windows, bare floors, bare uneven dirt outside left from the builders and fix all this up as they could afford it? I can remember driving around the new suburbs in the past and seeing all this. I rarely do today. All these add ons are not cheap.

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

Dungfungus – You might want to do some research before casting other far more eminent experts research into doubt. There is a suburb called Tuggeranong and it covers farm houses and reserves west of Kambah and down the south of Banks (in fact you can see it as area number 2 on the map pictured in the article)

You might also like to see it listed for the Postcode 2900 (I imagine 97% of that postcodes population is Greenway residents) http://www.postcodes-australia.com/postcodes/2900

I did my research and according to the NSW / ACT Postcodes in the current phone book there is no entry for the name Tuggeranong or a postcode for Tuggeranong.

Greenway is listed as 2900 but not Tuggeranong.

Dungfungus – you are obviously going to have to do more research than a Phonebook, because ActMapi, Australia Post, Land & Planning, The Public Sector Mapping Agency, ABS CENSUS 2011 and people who live on blocks and houses at the Southern end of Tharwa Drive Tuggeranong say that you are wrong. Only 43 People lived in the Suburb at the last CENSUS, so it’s an easy one to miss. What Suburb do you think people live in once you get outside Canberra’s Suburb outskirts? Duffy becomes Stromlo on the other side of Eucabene Dr and Holt becomes Belconnen on the other side of Drake Brockman, etc , etc.

Digital Financial Analytics use postcodes to generate their statistics.

Are you saying their postcode book is different to mine?

The 43 people that the ABS Census recorded as “living in Tuggeranong” were probably guests at the motel there.

Acton said :

Garfield said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

It all depends on how much people have had to borrow. Interest on $100,000 at 17% is the same as interest on $400,000 at 4.25%.

You are not accounting for much lower wages in 1989 compared to now, so 17% on $100k then made houses and mortgages far less affordable than 4.25% on $400k now, because the repayments took a greater chunk out of your (lower) after tax disposable income. Many young families at that time couldn’t afford much else after meeting the mortgage payment. Mortgage stress was evidenced by sheets covering the windows because we (us and our neighbours) couldn’t afford curtains. Bean bags were standard furniture. I could go on but you would start rolling your eyes.

Yet my parents and many others could afford to purchase a house on a single income. Home affordability is a much different beast than to what it was a few decades ago.

dungfungus said :

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

Dungfungus – You might want to do some research before casting other far more eminent experts research into doubt. There is a suburb called Tuggeranong and it covers farm houses and reserves west of Kambah and down the south of Banks (in fact you can see it as area number 2 on the map pictured in the article)

You might also like to see it listed for the Postcode 2900 (I imagine 97% of that postcodes population is Greenway residents) http://www.postcodes-australia.com/postcodes/2900

I did my research and according to the NSW / ACT Postcodes in the current phone book there is no entry for the name Tuggeranong or a postcode for Tuggeranong.

Greenway is listed as 2900 but not Tuggeranong.

Dungfungus – you are obviously going to have to do more research than a Phonebook, because ActMapi, Australia Post, Land & Planning, The Public Sector Mapping Agency, ABS CENSUS 2011 and people who live on blocks and houses at the Southern end of Tharwa Drive Tuggeranong say that you are wrong. Only 43 People lived in the Suburb at the last CENSUS, so it’s an easy one to miss. What Suburb do you think people live in once you get outside Canberra’s Suburb outskirts? Duffy becomes Stromlo on the other side of Eucabene Dr and Holt becomes Belconnen on the other side of Drake Brockman, etc , etc.

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

I don’t think there is any suggestion that there is more mortgage stress around than there has been in history. If you are under mortgage stress, you are under mortgage stress; it’s not – and should not be – a competition. The study was not about comparing to conditions 30 years ago, nor are they saying that it was easier for previous generations.

It’s great that you survived the high interest rates, inflation and lower wages of the 80s, but it won’t make any of the residents in the abovementioned Tuggeranong suburbs feel better if they’re close to default.

Acton said :

Interest rates this low could not even be imagined by the most optimistic Reserve Bank governor. Housing costs are higher now because the income, standards and expectations of first and second home buyers are so much higher. I hesitate to say this, but with interest rates at a historic low point, modest unemployment, negligible inflation, stable petrol prices ….we’ve never had it so good.

Yep – but I wonder whether the combination of low unemployment & the current historically low interest rates will mean that when those factors change, many will be very over committed because of the incredibly high cost of housing in the ACT (which is due in no small part to the ACT Labor/Greens Gov’t policy of drip feeding land releases) and the rapidly escalating Annual Rates, Levies & other ACT Govt charges.

Acton said :

dungfungus said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

I don’t recall home interest rates being at 17% in 1989 but I remember being charged 22.5% on my home and being forced to sell it at 25% below its value in 1984.

That’s stressful.

It is about to happen again to many in Canberra.

Definitely 17% in 1989:
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/dbd46552aa41b8deca2570ec00787a56!OpenDocument

22.5% in 1984 would have been well above normal bank mortgage rates, which at that time were around 12%. Imagine if borrowers had to face those rates now.

The rate I was paying in 1984 was 17.5% plus a 5% surcharge as I wasn’t living in the home at that time. The home was interstate and vacant due to a regional recession. I had moved to Canberra to get work. To the credit of the bank involved, they refunded me all the surcharge interest accrued when I explained the circumstances.

I was also employed in the banking sector and the 17% plus rates were not “general” in 1989.

I know the ABS link you provided says otherwise but there is also a disclaimer on that page which says: “(a) The housing interest rate is the interest rate applicable on the last working day of the month to standard variable rate loans for owner occupation of large bank housing lenders. It is either the predominant rate or a representative rate (or range of rates) of major banks, although some banks may quote rates outside the range.”

With the source of the information being the Commonwealth Bank (who can believe anything they say) I suggest the information supplied to the ABS at that time was a bit woolly.

A better source of accurate information on “mortgage stress” in Canberra would be from our local debt collectors who actually knock on doors.

Garfield said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

It all depends on how much people have had to borrow. Interest on $100,000 at 17% is the same as interest on $400,000 at 4.25%.

You are not accounting for much lower wages in 1989 compared to now, so 17% on $100k then made houses and mortgages far less affordable than 4.25% on $400k now, because the repayments took a greater chunk out of your (lower) after tax disposable income. Many young families at that time couldn’t afford much else after meeting the mortgage payment. Mortgage stress was evidenced by sheets covering the windows because we (us and our neighbours) couldn’t afford curtains. Bean bags were standard furniture. I could go on but you would start rolling your eyes.

Interest rates this low could not even be imagined by the most optimistic Reserve Bank governor. Housing costs are higher now because the income, standards and expectations of first and second home buyers are so much higher. I hesitate to say this, but with interest rates at a historic low point, modest unemployment, negligible inflation, stable petrol prices ….we’ve never had it so good.

dungfungus said :

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

I don’t recall home interest rates being at 17% in 1989 but I remember being charged 22.5% on my home and being forced to sell it at 25% below its value in 1984.

That’s stressful.

It is about to happen again to many in Canberra.

Definitely 17% in 1989:
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/dbd46552aa41b8deca2570ec00787a56!OpenDocument

22.5% in 1984 would have been well above normal bank mortgage rates, which at that time were around 12%. Imagine if borrowers had to face those rates now.

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

It all depends on how much people have had to borrow. Interest on $100,000 at 17% is the same as interest on $400,000 at 4.25%.

John Moulis said :

According to the map, Pearce is in the red zone for mortgage stress. I find that a bit hard to fathom. Pearce has largely an older demographic who have owned their homes for several years. My parents paid their last home repayment in 1984. I’d like to know the methodology used in compiling this report. Seems to me they’ve used the boundaries of the old Brindabella electorate which lumped Chifley, Pearce and Torrens in with Tuggeranong and applied the same brush to the whole area.

I think you read the map wrong. It’s Kambah, Wanniassa, Oxley, Greenway and outer Tuggeranong that are coloured RED not Pearce. But the map is a little unclear without close inspection.

If you read the full report by DFA ‘no other’ Canberra Postcodes/Suburbs make the worst 100 stressed areas in Australia. A clear sign that this is not an issue affecting other areas of Canberra as much as it does this small pocket.

Acton said :

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

I don’t recall home interest rates being at 17% in 1989 but I remember being charged 22.5% on my home and being forced to sell it at 25% below its value in 1984.

That’s stressful.

It is about to happen again to many in Canberra.

bj_ACT said :

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

Dungfungus – You might want to do some research before casting other far more eminent experts research into doubt. There is a suburb called Tuggeranong and it covers farm houses and reserves west of Kambah and down the south of Banks (in fact you can see it as area number 2 on the map pictured in the article)

You might also like to see it listed for the Postcode 2900 (I imagine 97% of that postcodes population is Greenway residents) http://www.postcodes-australia.com/postcodes/2900

The most important issue however…… that was not properly understood and not accurately provided in updated comment in the report above. Is that while Canberra’s unemployment has dropped 1.8%, Kambah’s Unemployment has only dropped 0.1% in the same period. Newstart numbers for the Kambah postcode have increased by a crazy 25% over an 18 month period. Kambah’s size and mix of wealth and poor areas masks the Unemployment rate in comparison to say Symonston or Charnwood (but parts of Kambah have huge social issues and the area has been totally ignored by ACT Government and also by ACTCOSS who should know better).

Kambah has a high proportion of single parents, blue and pink collar workers and low income homeowners. School closures have created increasing education issues that can be seen in plummeting NAPLAN results and the lack of any entertainment opportunities in the area for youth and poorer families. It should be a badge of shame for the likes of Joy Burch and Mick Gentleman.

I no longer live in Kambah, but I am saddened to see what has happened to many of it’s struggling residents and its run down shops and facilities. How can Canberra have the most Mortgaged Stressed area in Australia? Have we lost our ability as Canberran’s to support disadvantaged areas and only care about our immediate suburb?

I did my research and according to the NSW / ACT Postcodes in the current phone book there is no entry for the name Tuggeranong or a postcode for Tuggeranong.

Greenway is listed as 2900 but not Tuggeranong.

John Moulis said :

According to the map, Pearce is in the red zone for mortgage stress. I find that a bit hard to fathom. Pearce has largely an older demographic who have owned their homes for several years. My parents paid their last home repayment in 1984. I’d like to know the methodology used in compiling this report. Seems to me they’ve used the boundaries of the old Brindabella electorate which lumped Chifley, Pearce and Torrens in with Tuggeranong and applied the same brush to the whole area.

My bad. I’ve just re-examined the map and Pearce is not in the red zone. The labelling of the map is very poor and it has been poorly drawn. One thing they should do is switch to Google Maps if they put out another report.

1989. Home loan interest rates rise to 17%. That’s mortgage stress.

According to the map, Pearce is in the red zone for mortgage stress. I find that a bit hard to fathom. Pearce has largely an older demographic who have owned their homes for several years. My parents paid their last home repayment in 1984. I’d like to know the methodology used in compiling this report. Seems to me they’ve used the boundaries of the old Brindabella electorate which lumped Chifley, Pearce and Torrens in with Tuggeranong and applied the same brush to the whole area.

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

Dungfungus – You might want to do some research before casting other far more eminent experts research into doubt. There is a suburb called Tuggeranong and it covers farm houses and reserves west of Kambah and down the south of Banks (in fact you can see it as area number 2 on the map pictured in the article)

You might also like to see it listed for the Postcode 2900 (I imagine 97% of that postcodes population is Greenway residents) http://www.postcodes-australia.com/postcodes/2900

The most important issue however…… that was not properly understood and not accurately provided in updated comment in the report above. Is that while Canberra’s unemployment has dropped 1.8%, Kambah’s Unemployment has only dropped 0.1% in the same period. Newstart numbers for the Kambah postcode have increased by a crazy 25% over an 18 month period. Kambah’s size and mix of wealth and poor areas masks the Unemployment rate in comparison to say Symonston or Charnwood (but parts of Kambah have huge social issues and the area has been totally ignored by ACT Government and also by ACTCOSS who should know better).

Kambah has a high proportion of single parents, blue and pink collar workers and low income homeowners. School closures have created increasing education issues that can be seen in plummeting NAPLAN results and the lack of any entertainment opportunities in the area for youth and poorer families. It should be a badge of shame for the likes of Joy Burch and Mick Gentleman.

I no longer live in Kambah, but I am saddened to see what has happened to many of it’s struggling residents and its run down shops and facilities. How can Canberra have the most Mortgaged Stressed area in Australia? Have we lost our ability as Canberran’s to support disadvantaged areas and only care about our immediate suburb?

dungfungus said :

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.

Greenway has a postcode of 2900 and includes the Tuggeranong town centre, so I think you’re going too far in questioning the credibility of the report as you’ve done above.

The credibility of this report is immediately thrown into doubt as it refers to a suburb named Tuggeranong.

There is no such suburb and there is no postcode 2900 relating to that name.

The closest is Tuggeranong DC with a post code of 2901.

The owner of this address is Australia Post and while they are not travelling too well either I doubt if they are experiencing “mortgage stress”.