The weekly recap of mortgage, home loan and housing news in Australia.

The top stories for the week ending 30/09/07:

Much ado about mortgage stress
The Australian
The Australian provides coverage on the recent speech by the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Ric Battelino, pointing out that while there may be pockets of mortgage stress, only 0.41 per cent of all mortgages are in arrears past 90 days. Moreover, household debt is largely being fueled not by people in danger of having their houses repossessed but by older, high-income earners who have the money to meet repayments. The article delves into the speech, and recent data, to shine a light on some of the political spin and myths currently being touted.

Some Observations on Financial Trends
RBA
A transcript of the speech delivered by the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Ric Battellino, to Finsia–Melbourne Centre of Financial Studies, 12th Banking and Finance Conference in Melbourne.

McMansions fuelling affordability squeeze
News.com.au
Article recaps the recent report from Commsec’s Martin Arnold saying that the housing market was being starved of growth, with the construction of new houses and units not keeping up with the soaring population. Data from Commsec also indicates as many have been saying for sometime that home sizes on an average were 20 per cent larger than a decade ago.

Three Ways the US Housing Crash is Affecting Australia
Dailyreckoning.com.au
Dan Denning takes a brief look at some of the effects of the US sub-prime crash and how it’s having an effect on Australia.

Redraw is handy but tricky
Sydney Morning Herald
Anneli Knight of the Sydney Morning Herald takes a look at the redraw facility attached to many home loans with many raising concerns that it can be a dangerous trap. The article reviews some real life experiences and features commentary from Centric Wealth’s Robert Keavney, Virginia Graham of Model Mortgages, Marcus O’Mullane from Suburban Management and financial author Anita Bell.

Spend, spend, spend. It’s no way to happiness
The Age
Catherine Deveny has written my favorite article for the week which provides a great reminder to ditch the ‘retail therapy’ mentality and give the credit card and redraw facilities a break. From the article - “Middle-class whingers complaining about how hard they are struggling need a good slap. They are offensive to true battlers out there who stock up on their brand of margarine when it’s on special and don’t buy new socks but mend the ones they have.”.