Australian prime home-loan arrears stabilized in May after rising in preceding months, according to a recently published report by S&P Global Ratings. The Standard & Poor’s Performance Index (SPIN) for Australian prime mortgages was largely unchanged, declining to 1.52% in May from 1.53% a month earlier. Arrears in May were up 13 basis points year on year, though the deterioration dissipated in May.
Arrears fell across most of the country in May, with small declines in the key states of New South Wales and Victoria. Only Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania recorded increases. Arrears in Western Australia were at 3.00%, down 10 basis points from the previous month, and 3.10% in Northern Territory, down 23 basis points. Nonconforming arrears nationwide fell to 3.80% in May from 4.11% a month earlier.
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David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
