One in 10 home buyers in Australia believe the latest round of interest rates could force them to sell their house, according to a survey.
The Mortgage Choice survey, completed a day before the Reserve Bank’s decision to lift interest rates, indicated that 9 percent of mortgage holders could not afford any further increase in interest rates to repay their loans.
The survey showed that the two further 25-basis-point hikes widely tipped for 2011 would be enough for approximately 18 percent of home buyers to consider selling their homes.
This was the option already taken up by a couple who recently sold their home after struggling to pay $1,300 monthly mortgage debts.
“I made a bad decision fixing a loan I couldn’t afford,” said Mrs Ojasoo, who sold their home at Evanston, north of Adelaide. “Then everything was pointing to even higher variable loan rates when our fixed term was due to end in a couple of years.”
The survey polled 1,061 people regarding property and finance matters. Out of the total number of participants, 536 of them have mortgage obligations.