Threat of mortgage ‘cliff’ begins to fade as banks say affected borrowers past peak
The number of Australians coming off low-interest rates locked in during the COVID-19 pandemic has peaked.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers poses for photographs holding a copy of the Intergenerational Report 2023 at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, August 24, 2023. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
About a million loans went from lower to higher rates between when rates started rising until the hikes paused in the middle of this year.
About 520,000 loans will roll over by the end of the year and an extra 450,000 will come off lower-fixed rates in 2024.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he understood that higher interest rates were putting pressure on family budgets but that fewer people were coming off fixed rates was welcome news.
He said while inflation was moderating, “it will remain higher than we’d like for longer than we’d like”.
“We monitor these pressures closely and we know people are under the pump which is why our primary focus as a government is delivering billions of dollars of cost-of-living relief without adding to inflation,” Dr Chalmers said.
The treasurer pointed to cost of living relief including electricity bill subsidies, cheaper child care, pay rises for aged care workers, cheaper prescription medicine and welfare and rent assistance increases.
He said Australia was also well-positioned to confront economic headwinds due to low unemployment, high labour force participation and a strong budget position.
