And most of them attribute the change to COVID-19
Around one in eight Australians with a mortgage has experienced at least one change to their mortgage repayments for their own home or investment property since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found.
According to an ABS survey on the impact of COVID-19, 41% of respondents reported they had a mortgage on their home – and 13% said that they had experienced at least one change to their repayments since March.
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Additionally, six in seven (86%) mortgage holders who experienced at least one change to their mortgage repayments attributed the change “either directly, indirectly, or in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Broken down, the survey found that 7% of mortgage holders had payments for their dwelling deferred, while 6% had mortgage repayments for their dwelling reduced, excluding interest rate reductions.
Meanwhile, 1% reported the mortgage repayments for their dwelling was in arrears, 1% reported their mortgage repayments for an investment property were either deferred or in arrears, and 1% had mortgage repayments for an investment property reduced.
In its methodology, the survey asked Australians aged 18 years or over whether they or anyone else in their household “experienced a range of changes to their mortgage or rent payments” since March 2020.
