A damning report has found a third of home loan customers facing financial hardship end up dropping their requests for help because their bank's application process is so difficult.
Cash buyers, rich with assets and without any need for a mortgage, snapped up more than one in four properties across Australia's three largest states last year.
A Coalition proposal to let first homeowners withdraw their super for a house deposit would force property prices up by nearly $75,000 across Australia's five largest capital cities.
Getting on the property ladder has never been tougher, according to market data which will be sobering reading for thousands of would-be first-home buyers.
Although there was little in last night's budget for millions of homeowners struggling under the weight of 11 recent interest rate hikes - one small detail could mean the end is over.
Households on lower incomes, renters and recent borrowers with large debts are the most at risk of financial stress after the Reserve Bank of Australia aggressively hiked interest rates.
Canstar research revealed homebuyers' wages are falling up to $145,000 short to buy a home without suffering mortgage stress in the country's capital cities.
The tenth consecutive interest rate rise is bad news for borrowers whose monthly repayments on a $500,000 loan have increased by $1051 since April 2021.
Borrowers on the precipice of a fixed-rate cliff are facing the difficult decision about whether to shop around for a better rate or wait and see how the economic landscape fares but experts warn the latter could have "costly" consequences.
Canstar analysis shows the historical average cash rate is 4.6 per cent which is a full 1.5 per cent higher than the current 10-year high of 3.1 per cent.
Owners of units in Melbourne and Canberra will wince at Domain's latest property report, which details record falls in unit prices following eight successive rate hikes.
New South Wales Opposition Leader Chris Minns has vowed to abolish stamp duty for almost all of first-home owners if Labor is elected in the upcoming March state election.
People are increasingly relying on credit to fund their holiday spending, in a further sign of household budgets stretching under the cost of living burden.