Victoria, April 28 – More people are losing their homes with the rise of job losses. Court figures in Victoria show a 30 percent rise in claims lodge in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period last year.

According to the Supreme Court, at least 880 have lost their homes to foreclosures this year, compared to 677 by the end of March last year. The figures also show that the court had 298 writs for repossession for the month of March alone. This tops March 2008 figures by 46 percent.

The Reserve Bank figures show that non-performing loans have climbed to 0.5 percent. The arrears were only at 0.3 percent at the end of 2007. Impaired assets, on the other hand, climbed form 0.19 percent at the end of 2007 to 0.74 percent at the end of 2008 of all assets. It is now in its highest amount in a decade.

The Federal Government is trying to curb the number of home losses with the new provision to help Australians struggling with mortgage payments. A person experiencing hardship could seek relief form their financial institutions for debts up to AUD$312,000. With the recent consumer credit law changes, the limit will be increased to AUD$500,000.

Policy Director for the Consumer Action Law Centre Nicole Rich said that the increase in repossession actions are concerning. From April 2008 to the end of March 2009, more than 3,000 repossession writs have already been lodged in the Supreme Court.

“What really concerns me about the figures is that they are really going up a lot and we haven’t even seen the worst of it in terms of unemployment,” says Rich.

Source:
theage.com.au