Housing Stress Australia

WA households are hurting

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Mortgage — or rental stress — is generally accepted to refer to the lowest 40 per cent of income earners, and includes those who are paying more than 30 per cent of their household income on direct housing costs.

Statistics vary depending on how each study defines the term, but West Australians have crept into the higher end of the housing stress spectrum since the end of the mining boom.

But Mr Goh said often it was not mortgage or rent payments which lead to financial stress — but rather everything else.

"If you look at mortgages and rents, traditionally that has been about 20 to 30 per cent of gross income," he said.

"That hasn't changed over the last few years and in fact there's a recent finding by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that showed the amount allocated for mortgages has decreased somewhat.

"It is the total level of spending that we have to identify and look at before we make any real conclusions."

Affordability and renting

For renting to become a truly viable, long-term alternative to home ownership, greater rental affordability and security is needed, writes senior research fellow Emma Power.

Mr Goh, who also works as a financial advisor, said many people in the state were struggling to adapt.

"We had the mining boom and many families are obviously very used to and accustomed to the lifestyle that they had been living," he said.

Rising unemployment and household bills, coupled with minimal wage growth and falling house prices are certainly not helping the situation.

A recent survey by Roy Morgan Research found 345,000 mortgage holders across Australia have no real equity in their homes.

Of those, 71,000 are in WA.

It places WA most at risk, and means 14 per cent of the state's mortgage customers own property where its value is only equal to or less than the amount still owed.

(Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation )