Mortgage holders in South Albury will likely be the hardest hit by the ninth consecutive interest rate rise announced on Tuesday.
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Data obtained by credit bureau illion reveals people in Albury and Wodonga are already showing elevated rates of home loan arrears relative to most regional towns across Victoria and NSW.
Using late payments to assess mortgage hardship in Albury and surrounding suburbs, illion pulled data on the portion of home loans which are 30 days or more behind on their repayments.
At 2.5 per cent, illion head of modelling Barrett Hasseldine said South Albury has a higher number of people who have fallen behind in repayments than the state average, which in NSW is .65 per cent.
"There is a five times higher rate of late payments in South Albury," Mr Hasseldine said.
"It is one of the highest rates of late payment across all Australia."
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Mr Hasseldine said socio-economic and environmental factors such as insecure and low-paid work or extreme weather events could compound mortgage stress, which he believed to be the case in South Albury.
"The areas with worst late repayments are those closest to the Murray River and potentially most affected by recent flooding," Mr Hasseldine said.
"Any disruption or increased costs in a person's like can show up in late credit repayments simply because they have increased pressure on them.
"Those households are facing a large increase in their mortgage repayments because of the increases in the cash rate," he said.
By contrast, with each suburb at rates below .6 per cent Thurgoona, West Wodonga and East Albury have and are forecast for materially lower levels of home loan arrears than the regional or state average.
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