Former Sunrise host-turned Compare the Market economic director David “Kochie” Koch has crunched the numbers to expose a growing wealth gap in the housing market.
He linked spending by those in the older generation to a boom in inflation, and explained how mature Australians have been shielded from rate rises, in a “tough pill for younger borrowers to swallow”.
If you purchased a property before the pandemic, median data from Compare the Market found you’re likely to pocket an extra $671 each month, when compared to those who entered the housing market just three years later.
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“If you bought your home in early 2022 under the pretence that interest rates would stay low for longer, you’ve now been lumped with the short end of the stick,” Kochie said.
“Meanwhile, a lot of mature Australians have missed this pain altogether after selling their properties at the peak and having reaped the benefits of more equity for years.”
He added that much of the ageing population “has been shielded from the rate rises, and it’s already widely believed that their (mature Australians) spending drove inflation.”
New figures released on Wednesday showed the inflation rate had slowed to 4.3 per cent in the 12 months to November 2023, down from 4.9 per cent a month earlier.
It marks the smallest annual increase since January 2022.
Compare the Market data showed just how much of a difference inflation has made to the back pockets of borrowers who took out home loans during the market peak in April 2022.
At that time in Sydney, the median house price was $1,127,723 and repayments on a 2.2 per cent fixed rate were $3,426.
But when that fixed term expires, a variable rate of 6.45 per cent (current rate) would cause those repayments to increase by $2,247 — skyrocketing to $5,673 monthly.
“Yet someone who purchased a house for the median price of $780,672 just three years earlier (in the April 2019 market dip) may have seen repayments only rise $1576 — that’s $671 less than those who purchased at the peak,” Compare the Market said in a statement.
“On top of that, those borrowers have benefited from a significant rise in equity, with the median house price in Sydney now just shy of its previous record.”
Kochie added: “It’s time policy-makers should be asking, ‘how could the pressure be more evenly spread?’.”
Kochie advised shopping around for a new lender after clocking a 0.85 per cent difference between various advertised rates, the lowest of which could save borrowers with a $750,000 loan a total of $414 dollars each month.
“We urge people in mortgage pain to reduce the interest on their repayments as much as possible by shopping around for a better deal,” Kochie said.