QLD is Australia’s worst-performing state for mortgage delinquency, with homeowners in Noosa, Airlie Beach and the Gold Coast among the most affected by the economy.
According to Fitch Ratings, Logan City, the Gold Coast and Ipswich have also shown significant economic deterioration since September last year, but its study of suburbs where the mortgage delinquency was highest pinpointed seven Queensland locations among the worst 20 throughout Australia.One of the reasons for Queensland’s poor performance could be higher-than-average unemployment in the worst-affected areas.
Outside Sydney and Brisbane, Airlie Beach and Noosa were among Australia’s worst regions for delinquency. The survey found that 1.7 per cent of Queensland homeowners missed mortgage payments in the six months to September.This was down from 2 per cent in March, but still the highest level of all the states.
Helensvale, Carbrook, Surfers Paradise and Kingston were suburbs in Australia’s worst 10 for missing mortgage payments.
Sydney’s southwestern suburbs and the central coast of NSW, along with the Gold Coast and the southwest region of Western Australia, continued to have above-average mortgage arrears, although there was an overall improvement noted nationally.
Fitch said the 10 worst-performing regions in September were the same as in March 2011, although delinquency rates had decreased across all of these regions.
The Fairfield-Liverpool region in Sydney’s depressed southwest was the worst-performing region in Australia, but cases of arrears of more than 30 days decreased to 2.63 per cent in September 2011.
Fitch said Logan City had shown a strong improvement in its arrears, falling from 2.8 per cent to 2.38 per cent, indicating that borrowers had been able to cope with interest rates.
The Gold Coast West, Logan City and Ipswich had also improved, but their improvement had been below the Australian average. In March 2011, these regions experienced a significant deterioration by number of borrowers in arrears and had shown a more moderate improvement than the rest of the country since then.
The survey did not include the recent interest rate cuts.
WORST POSTCODES
1 2315 NSW Nelson Bay 7.8
2 2262 NSW Budgewoi 4.6
3 4212 QLD Helensvale 4.3
4 2576 NSW Kangaloon 4.3
5 2171 NSW Hoxton Park 4.0
6 4217 QLD Surfers Paradise 3.9
7 4130 QLD Carbrook 3.9
8 4114 QLD Kingston 3.8
9 2106 NSW Newport 3.8
10 2761 NSW Plumpton 3.7
11 4567 QLD Noosa Heads 3.6
12 4802 QLD Airlie Beach 3.6
13 2753 NSW Richmond 3.4
14 2324 NSW Karuah 3.4
15 2325 NSW Cessnock 3.4
16 6167 WA Casuarina 3.4
17 2177 NSW Bonnyrigg 3.3
18 2428 NSW Forster 3.3
19 2263 NSW Gorokan 3.3
20 2430 NSW Taree 3.2
Fitch also pointed out that Australia’s mortgage delinquency was not as bad as in the UK and the US, where it has hit double figures.