I guess the mass stupor also caused people to want to be evicted.
Mortgage stress to hit 300,000: reportAn alarming
300,000 Australian households will be under severe mortgage stress by mid-2008 and at significant risk of losing their homes, as interest rates and living costs rise, a new report shows.
The worrying finding raises questions about banking sector profitability, which is already under downward pressure due to the global credit crunch and rising funding costs, report authors JPMorgan and Fujitsu Consulting said.
"The banks have passed on nowhere near their increased cost of funding," JPMorgan lead banking analyst Brian Johnson told reporters.
"When you speak to them behind the scenes, they'll tell you that probably they'll have to move another 15 basis points."
The JPMorgan/Fujitsu Australian Mortgage Industry Report for March follows decisions by the major banks to increase their standard variable home loan rates by more than the 25 basis point increase engineered by the central bank on March 4.
ANZ Banking Group Ltd, St George Bank Ltd and Commonwealth Bank of Australia have all raised their rates by 35 basis points. Westpac has approved a 30 basis point increase and National Australia Bank Ltd a 29 basis points rise.
The report, based on the results of telephone interviews with 26,000 Australian households,
estimates more than 700,000 households will be experiencing some form of mortgage stress by June this year,
a four-fold increase on last year
.Oh Johnny, which looney voted for this horror?