Australian household debt continues to expand

Australian household debt continues to expand. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a report showing that over the past 25 years, household debt has increased nearly twice as fast as the value of household assets. household debt increased from just under 11% at the end of September 1988 to 20% (of Assets) at the end of 2013. The report notes that, Income is an important consideration when deciding on a household's capacity to make repayments. And household debt increased more rapidly than household income from early in 1993 until the middle of 2007. Moreover, The size of Australia's household debt compared with its income (household debt to income ratio) is not just high in historical terms, it is also high when compared with the household debt to income ratios of the G7 countries (i.e. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA). (VIEW LINK)