Mortgage Stress Intensifies In May

The proportion of households experience mortgage stress has increased in NSW and Canberra during May according to analysis by Digital Finance Analytics (DFA).

It comes as sky-high home prices continue to stretch family finances with 41.3% of NSW households now in mortgage distress – a rise from 38.2%. Mortgage stress is when an average home buyer is using more than 30% of their income to cover repayments.

Elsewhere, 42% of Canberra families struggled, a rise from 38.3% over the same period.

The rise in mortgage stress can be likely attributed to the ending of JobKeeper in March.

This was acutely felt in Tasmania, where 56.8% of households were in mortgage stress.

The market was not any more accommodating in the rental segment with rental stress also surging across all states except the Northern Territory.

Rental stress in may jumped by 4.59% in Canberra, 3.46% in NSW, 3.46% in Victoria and 3.29% in Queensland.

“There was a significant rise in rental stress, as the fallout from the removal of renter protections hit, and the JobKeeper and JobSeeker support ended,” Mr North, Director of DFA said.

Rental stress, similar to mortgage stress, occurs when a person pays more than a third of their income on rent.

The number of households in rental stress nationwide rose from 1.78 million in April to 1.95 million in May.

“Until incomes rise, the conditions are set for more pressure on household finances,” Mr North forewarned.

Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.

The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.

“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”

Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.

The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”

Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.

The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.

The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.

The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.

The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”

The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”

The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”

Mortgage Stress Intensifies In May

Rental stress also heightened throughout the month.

The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.