California · North Weekly
Tim McIntyre Updated 28 Sep 2026, 5:03am First published 28 Sep 2026, 5:00am A looming rate hike at the September RBA meeting could spell disaster for more than a million families, according to new research. An exclusive survey by Money.com.au revealed 39 per cent of mortgage holders weren’t confident they could continue to afford home loan repayments if interest rates were to rise again. A worrying 9 per cent of the homeowners said they’d have to seriously consider selling their properties if their interest rate increased by the 0.25 per cent that the RBA is widely expected to hike by next week.
MORE : Big bank exec reveals huge property power shift One in five said it would take two standard rate hikes, or 0.5 per cent, to force them to seriously consider selling. Another 15 per cent said it would take a full percentage point, or four hikes before they were in the same boat. The RBA is widely expected to raise rates in September.
Picture: John Appleyard Money.com.au ’s mortgage spokesman Nick Burgess said it was “alarming” that so many homeowners were dangerously close to a forced sale. He said that being stretched that close to a limit means there’s not much room to absorb another repayment shock. MORE: Thousands of home builds abandoned as rate hikes threaten budgets “That’s an incredibly thin buffer,” Mr Burgess said.
“These households aren’t saying it would take another five or six rate hikes to break them. They’re saying one or two could do it, and that’s not an unthinkable scenario if inflation flares up again. The RBA has made it clear further rate hikes remain on the table.” “At some point, you run out of things to cut from the household budget and some people have to contemplate selling their home and moving somewhere cheaper to bring their repayments back under control.” A hike next week would take the official cash rate to 4.6 per cent, the highest it has been since a peak of 4.75 per cent in 2010, before the RBA spent the next decade cutting rates.
And this may not be the end, with fresh pressure on oil supply and rising debt levels for many of the world’s major economies. More than 1 million mortgages may soon be at risk. Inflation has already proved sticky and the renewed surges in some spending categories will have the RBA worried about the higher prices being embedded in consumer expectations, which could lead to inflation perpetuating itself and carrying on further out of control.
So Aussie borrowers may need to get used to a higher interest rate environment for the foreseeable future. MORE: Investor forced to abandon new home over tax changes The survey also revealed that close to two thirds of Australians say they would prefer house prices to keep falling, compared to just 36 per cent who want them to rise. Predictably, 83 per cent of renters wanted house prices to fall, but 53 per cent of homeowners also wanted that outcome.
Mr Burgess said it may seem counterintuitive for homeowners to want a price fall, but noted that they often don’t have only themselves to think about. Nick Burgess from Money.com.au said the research was “alarming”. “Homeowners don’t live in a bubble,” he said.
“They have kids, friends and family members trying to get into the market and they can see how difficult it’s become to buy a home on an ordinary income. “For some, having a little less equity on paper may be a trade-off they’re willing to accept if it means their kids or the next generation have a realistic shot at owning a home one day.”
Source: realestate.com.au
