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Borrowers living in coastal regions are more like to default on their home loans, according to financial market research provider Fitch Ratings.
The company’s latest report shows the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and south-west WA are among the areas with the highest number of home loans more than 90 days in arrears.
Their data corresponds with Genworth’s Fourth Quarter Report findings, published yesterday in Australian Broker, which labelled Queensland’s coastal areas a mortgage insurance claim ‘hot spot.’
Fitch Rating’s associate director, James Zanesi, says coastal regions that rely on tourism are less effected by monetary policy and more by the high Australian dollar.
However, it was Montrose in Hobart’s northern suburbs that held the nation’s highest number of home loan defaults, with over 3.2% of borrowers more than 30 days in arrears.
Borrowers living in inner city areas, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, were the best performers in comparison, at 0.68% higher than the national average.
The overall news is positive though, with the number of people who failed to meet their repayments dropping by 1.2% on a national level.
