Rates Squeeze For Some

More than half of New South Wales and Victorian households will feel the pinch if the Reserve Bank of Australia decides to raise interest rate as expected this week, according to a new poll by CoreData and national broadsheet, The Australian.

On the flip side almost four out of 10 Queenslanders (39.2%) and Western Australians (39.8%) stated they would be comfortable or very comfortable in the event of rates rising by 0.25%.

The findings are understandable to a certain degree, considering the higher mortgage levels of many households in NSW and Vic, while the mining-led economic growth of Qld and WA is clearly sheltering many households from the pain of rising interest rates.

In South Australia, 46.3% of respondents pointed to becoming ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘very uncomfortable’ with just over one in three, 36.1%, believing they will feel no impact from a jump in rates this week.

The poll of more than 2,000 people reinforces the notion of a two speed economy.

49.9% of all respondents said they would be ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘very uncomfortable’ as the result of a rate rise, with 34.4% noting they would actually be ‘comfortable’ or ‘very comfortable’ in the event of any rate rise.

Interestingly, as a group, females felt they would be least comfortable by a hike in the underlying cash rate, with 59% saying they would be uncomfortable or very uncomfortable in the event of a rise in rates – for males the figure was 48%.

The poll was conducted by CoreData’s realtime minipoll software tool between July 30th and August 6th and involved a sample of 2117 individuals nationwide.