Western Sydney households have the highest rate of mortgage defaults in the country according to a new report.
Thousands of western Sydney householders got their foot in the market during a property boom in the early part of the decade.
Reserve Bank analysts say the boom was fed by a combustible mix of loose lending standards, an appetite for debt and mortgage brokers.
That’s had a price with a number of people in the region behind on their payments by 90 days or more – triple the national average.
The Reserve Bank report has shown home loans written in 2004 are the most likely to go bad – those written in later years will also struggle.
John Falzon from St Vincent de Paul says he's not surprised.
“The St Vincent de Paul society is increasingly coming across people who are doing it tough, as mortgagees.
“Often they are in a situation where their backs are against the wall and their juggling a number of cost increases.”