Australia’s mortgage burden is now above 1989 levels – when interest rates were 17%

KPMG analysis rebuts claims older generations had it harder when it came to buying and paying off a home

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Australia’s national mortgage burden is heavier now than it was when lending rates reached 17% at the end of the 1980s, new analysis reveals.

Terry Rawnsley, an urban economist at KPMG, said his research was in part a “myth-busting” exercise aimed at rebutting oft-repeated claims that previous generations had it harder when it came to buying and paying off a home.