Mortgage nightmare: Aussies spending half their income on home loans as investors flee

Australian families are now spending a staggering half their income on mortgage repayments, as fresh figures reveal investors are fleeing the property market and desperate homeowners are scrambling to refinance. PRD Real Estate’s latest Australian Economic and Property Report found mortgage repayments now consume a record 50.9 per cent of family income, as four interest rate hikes this year and growing loan sizes push housing affordability to breaking point. New research reveals the average Australian family is spend more than 50 per cent of their income on mortgage repayments. Affordability has deteriorated by 3.3 percentage points over the past year, wiping out gains made during last year’s rate cuts. And new figures from mortgage brokerage Loan Market reveal just how dramatically buyers are retreating. Loan lodgements, excluding refinancing, have plunged 24 per cent nationally since January, with Queensland recording a sharper 30 per cent fall. Investors are leading the exodus, with loan lodgements collapsing 44 per cent nationally and a staggering 56 per cent in Queensland — the biggest decline of any state. Research from Loan Market reveals loan lodgements have collapsed 44 pe...