Hunter households report suffering less mortgage stress than the rest of NSW, but loan repayments are an increasing burden.
Meanwhile, the proportion of households suffering rental stress is on par with the rest of the state and has more than tripled in five years.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2021 Census show 11.9 per cent of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie households reported having mortgage repayments exceeding 30 per cent of their pre-tax income.
The rest of the Hunter reported a similar percentage of 12 per cent.
Both figures are double what they were at the 2016 Census, reflecting slow wage growth compared with the rising cost of housing.
The ratio of Hunter households under mortgage stress compared with 17.3 per cent across the state and 19.8 per cent in the dominant Greater Sydney housing market.
Across Australia, 14.5 per cent of households had mortgage repayments above 30 per cent of their total pre-tax income.
The threshold for mortgage stress is widely considered to be 30 per cent of pre-tax income, though the ABS says some households with high repayments may not be under financial stress and Census respondents often understate their income.
Nevertheless, the figures suggest fewer people in the Hunter than in the rest of NSW are stretching their budgets with big loans, even though the median Newcastle house sale has ballooned past $900,000 this year.
The number of households suffering mortgage stress could increase markedly as interest rates rise.
The Census put the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie median household income at $1676, well below the NSW median of $1829.
The median monthly mortgage repayment was $1950 in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and $1733 in the rest of the region. The state figure was $2167 and the national median was $1863.
The Hunter may be under less mortgage pressure than the rest of NSW, and especially Sydney, but the same cannot be said for those in the rental market.
Across the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, the proportion of rental households paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent was 35.2 per cent, almost exactly the same as the state and Greater Sydney averages and above the national average of 32.2 per cent.
Rental stress was even higher, at 36.8 per cent, in the rest of the Hunter.
The 2021 Census figures for rental stress are more than three times higher than they were in 2016, when only 11.6 per cent of rental households in Newcastle and 10.6 per cent in the rest of the Hunter reported spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.
