People with home loans in the Sydney suburb of Casula have been taking on second jobs, dipping into superannuation, growing fruits and vegetables in the backyard and cutting out takeaway to keep up with their payments. Casula is the worst performing postcode in Sydney and Australia for mortgage arrears, according to S&P Global Ratings data. About one in every 32 borrowers – 3.
16 per cent – are falling behind. Kurt Bridde 44-year-old civil engineer Casula resident Kurt Bridde and his family are not alone in facing the highest levels of mortgage stress. The 44-year-old civil engineer admits to having been behind on his home loan repayments.
Kurt Bridde, 44, with his children Izabelle, 10, and Levi, 7, in their Casula home. Credit: Janie Barrett “About 18 months ago we got into a bit of trouble and things were tight,” Bridde said. “We had to defer payments for two months.
Since then, we’re back on track, but we do struggle.” Casula is followed by Craigieburn in northern Melbourne at 2.81 per cent.
Households are also under stress in the Sydney suburbs of Blacktown (2.26 per cent) and Camden (2.09 per cent).
Arrears have increased most over the past year in NSW and Victoria, and have declined in Queensland and Western Australia. The median house price in Casula is $954,000, up 35.3 per cent in five years, on Domain data.
It comes as the Reserve Bank kept the cash rate on hold at 4.35 per cent on Tuesday, following 13 interest rate rises in a bid to tackle inflation..
