Household debt
ALTERNATIVE LABELS
private debt
personal debt
NARROWER TERMS
Household debt is defined as all liabilities of households (including non-profit institutions serving households) that require payments of interest or principal by households to the creditors at a fixed dates in the future. Debt is calculated as the sum of the following liability categories: loans (primarily mortgage loans and consumer credit) and other accounts payable. The indicator is measured as a percentage of net household disposable income (OECD, 2021).
Report
Understanding utility hardship
This report examines patterns and trends for different groups of households to better identify the risk factors and early signs of hardship, appropriate support to vulnerable consumers, and whether current safeguards are providing key factors that contribute to effective hardship policy and practice.
Report
Public and private debt: links between debt types for all New Zealanders
Debt takes many forms in an established financial system. This paper focuses on two categories of debt based on who the debt is owed to - public debt (debt owed to the government) and private debt (debt owed to non-government lenders).
Discussion paper
Do Australian households borrow to keep up with the Joneses?
This paper examines whether and how local income inequality affects household debt and its composition using household panel data for Australia from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
Discussion paper
The rise in household liquidity
This paper explores the determinants of liquidity across households and over time, using a range of household surveys for Australia. The authors find that household liquidity is strongly associated with life cycle factors, such as age and housing tenure.
Report
Helping households in debt
Much like Australia, household debt is increasing in the United Kingdom. This report examines how the financial impacts of COVID-19 may affect people in different demographic groups and regions, and explores experiences of debt and household finance before and during the pandemic.
Survey
Per Capita tax survey 2020
The tenth annual Per Capita tax survey provides an unparalleled insight into the views held by Australians of all ages, from across the country, about the role of tax and public services in our national life. It provides valuable insights to policy makers for the...
Discussion paper
How risky is Australian household debt?
It is often observed that the level of household debt (relative to income) is high in Australia compared with other countries and its own history. Concerns about how this will influence the economy’s ability to navigate a major downturn have for many years been central...
Discussion paper
The effect of mortgage debt on consumer spending: evidence from household-level data
This paper explores the relationship between owner-occupier mortgage debt and spending using detailed panel data on Australian households. It finds evidence consistent with a ‘debt overhang effect’ – households cut back on their spending when they have higher levels of outstanding mortgage debt.
Report
Housing prices, household debt and household consumption
This research investigated the relationship between increasing housing prices (or housing wealth) and the increased consumption expenditure of households from before the GFC and afterwards.
Report
What impact do house prices have on household debt and labour supply in Australia?
The effect of house prices on households’ financial decisions has been an important question facing researchers and policy-makers. Increases in house prices may lead households to take on additional debt, refinance an existing mortgage, or change the composition of the debt held. Studies of labour...
Report
House prices, household debt and labour supply in Australia
The objective of the research presented in this report is to identify the nature and magnitude of the relationship between house prices, household debt and the labour market decisions of Australian households. It is well known that there is a positive relationship among house prices...
Discussion paper
House prices, mortgage debt and labour supply: evidence from Australian households
This Positioning Paper outlines the research questions and methodology for an AHURI research study which utilises HILDA panel data and instrumental variable econometric techniques to interrogate the relationship between housing prices, household debt and labour supply in Australia. It provides preliminary evidence of important differences...
Report
Labour force participation and household debt
In the past decade or so there has been a substantial rise in the indebtedness and debt-servicing obligations of Australian households. This has been accompanied by a trend increase in labour force participation (LFP) for women and more recently for men. Microeconomic data show a...
Report
Has the rise in debt made households more vulnerable?
This paper shows that the major part of the historically high debt level in OECD countries is held by higher-income households, who also spend a smaller proportion of their disposable income servicing debts. Whether the situation remains benign or not is discussed in the final...
Report
Long work hours: volunteers and conscripts
Panel data from Australia are used to study the prevalence of work hours mismatch among long hours workers and, more importantly, how that mismatch persists and changes over time, and what factors are associated with these changes. Particular attention is paid to the roles played...
Report
Consenting adults deficits and household debt: Links between Australia's current account deficit, the demand for imported goods and household debt
A deficit in the current account on the balance of payments has become a usual part of Australia's economic landscape, deficits having been recorded for all but four of the last fifty five years. However, there are two features of the current account deficit (CAD)...
Discussion paper
Property owners in Australia: a snapshot
This paper uses household-level data to examine what determines the ownership of residential property and the holding of property debt by households in Australia.
Report
Household debt in Australia: walking the tightrope
In the 1960s and 1970s Australians were big believers in having a nest egg of savings set away for a rainy day. Since then times have changed. In the ninth AMP/NATSEM Income and Wealth Report, Ann Harding, Simon Kelly and Rebecca Cassells investigate Australians' relationship...
Report
Analysis of expenditure patterns and levels of household indebtedness of public and private rental households, 1975 to 1999
Using ABS Household Expenditure Survey statistics, this study finds, among other things, that real housing costs in Australia increased substantially (32.9 per cent) over the period 1975-99. Purchasers experienced the biggest cost increase (66.2 per cent), followed by private tenants (24 per cent) and outright...
Working paper
Household saving behaviour in Australia
This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of Australian household saving—to consider the motives for Australian household saving and the form in which household savings are held.