Mortgage arrears show sharp rise

That's now a higher non-performing loan figure than was seen at the peak of the sharp but brief rise in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. But numerically, the peak of the pandemic surge was just under $1.2 billion of non-performing loans in July 2020. Substantial numbers of mortgage customers have still yet to roll over from reasonably favourable interest rates to the much higher rates now prevailing. "However, for households that borrowed during the period of very low interest rates between late 2020 and late 2021, current interest rates exceed some of the test rates used by banks during this period. These borrowers can now use this buffer to limit the rises in their repayments due to higher interest rates.