The median outstanding mortgage for each owner occupied mortgage holder now sits at $228,800, according to new figures from Roy Morgan Research.
In the state-by-state breakdown, Sydney came out on top with an average outstanding balance of $293,000 – an increase of 9.4% from the year before – while Perth came in second place at $279,000 – an increase of 2.4%.
Median mortgages for each state and the resultant change from the prior year can be found below:
| |
Median mortgage debt |
Change year-on-year |
| Sydney |
$293,000 |
+9.4% |
| Perth |
$279,000 |
+2.4% |
| Melbourne |
$243,000 |
+1.6% |
| Brisbane |
$229,000 |
-1.1% |
| Hobart |
$207,000 |
+5.2% |
| Adelaide |
$195,000 |
+0.6% |
Overall, these figures were positive, Norman Morris, industry communications director at Roy Morgan Research, told
Australian Broker.
“There are a lot of scary numbers around average mortgages. We’ve used median here which means that 50% are under and 50% are over that. Not everyone’s got a $1m mortgage.”
Focusing on Sydney, Morris said that since incomes were higher in Sydney than in other cities, overall levels of mortgage stress were also lower.
“We’re giving everyone the same interest rate so the variables are what you owe and what your household income is. That household income means mortgage stress is a little less.
“These figures are for existing mortgages. Obviously ones taken out recently can be a bit higher than that. We’re just looking at the total because mortgage stress is based on the total and not just what happened recently.”
The reason why Perth is in second place is because of what happened as a result of the mining boom, Morris said.
“People probably borrowed more than they would have otherwise. It’s just returning to normal now.”
The research also looked at regional areas across Australia and found the median mortgages for these geographic localities as follows:
- QLD country ($224,000)
- WA country ($202,000)
- NSW country ($180,000)
- VIC country ($149,000)
- SA country ($123,000)
- TAS country ($120,000)
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