Despite rising interest rates, Australian mortgage holders appear to have weathered the worst of the global financial crisis, according to new data released by FitchRatings.
The FitchRatings data has revealed that mortgage delinquencies in Australia have decreased across the board for three consecutive quarters, prompting the company’s associate director in the Structured Finance RMBS team, Leanne Vallelonga, to suggest that it illustrates the ability of Australia’s home loan borrowers to successfully navigate the current cycle of global turmoil.
She said the decline across all arrears buckets covered in the Fitch research was last seen in the same quarter of 2007.
Vallelonga also pointed to the fact that low-doc loan delinquencies had also improved.
The company expects arrears to remain steady through the remainder of 2009, with the risk of some increase to arrears in early 2010 brought about by Christmas credit card spending, increased interest rates and the risk of higher unemployment.
