Australians face repayment shock

[SYDNEY] Sydney mortgage broker Luke Gardiner, who started his business just last year, is already overwhelmed with customers. "There has not been a slow period in the last 12 months," said the broker, whose Gardiner Financial Services Pty arranged more than A$5 million (S$5.7 million) in mortgages in both June and July, about A$1 million more than in May. "I've been waiting for a break, but it hasn't come."

Driving the growth is demand for high-risk mortgages such as interest-only loans and financing to buy rental properties. That's setting the stage for a jump in mortgage delinquencies when interest rates increase from record lows, Moody's Investors Service said this month. The easier terms are fuelling h…