Mortgage cliff deepens as almost 25,000 households face default

Almost 25,000 households are staring down a mortgage cliff as fresh figures reveal the pain is spreading fast, with one postcode alone posting a brutal 25 per cent spike in just three months. New figures from the latest OurTop10 Default Loan Report, compiled by Digital Finance Analytics, show 24,546 households across 70 postcodes are at risk of defaulting on their home loan over the next 12 months. That’s the highest reading in the series and a 24 per cent leap from a year ago. And while the quarterly rise slowed to 3 per cent, experts say there’s no real relief in sight. “A slower quarter is not a better quarter,” OurTop10 head of research Mansour Soltani said. “Twenty-four thousand households at risk of default is a record for this series, and the pressure is now spreading from the growth corridors into Adelaide and regional Queensland.” OurTop10 head of research Mansour Soltani In Queensland, the statewide figure looked almost flat at first glance, rising just 0.6 per cent to 5139 households across the state’s 10 ranked postcodes. But underneath that result, the pressure is building hard in regional areas. Manunda in Cairns was the standout alarm bell, with the number of househo...