Australians able to service mortgage debt, says RBA official

Melbourne

THE bulk of mortgage debt in Australia is held by higher-income households best able to service it, a top central banker said on Thursday, though there were pockets of stress where those on lower incomes had to take on a lot of debt to buy a home.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) assistant governor Luci Ellis noted that higher-income households were not only likely to own their home but also to have other properties as investments. "This is why we say that most of the mortgage debt in Australia has been borrowed by those most able to service it," she told a housing conference in Melbourne.