Saturday 31 March 2007

A Trillion Dollars in Household Debt

As Dr. Evil would say "ONE, TRILLION, DOLLARS!"

That is the amount the Australian Household debt is likely to hit this year. Despite three interest rate rises by the Reserve Bank last year, which temporarily dented consumer confidence and slowed the growth in consumer debt, the rate in growth in credit for households and business was 1.4% last month - the fastest it's been in four years. This could trigger another rate rise at the Reserve Bank Board's monthly meeting next Tuesday, but many economists expect them to wait until they get the latest quarterly inflation figures next month. Borrowing for housing made up 86 per cent of the household debt figure ($840 billion) and the remaining $137 billion is personal debt (including credit card borrowing and personal loans).



Enough Wealth

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