![Mortgage broker Peter Smith said home owners on low fixed interest rates would be hurt the most by upcoming rate hikes. Picture by Eddie Guerrero Mortgage broker Peter Smith said home owners on low fixed interest rates would be hurt the most by upcoming rate hikes. Picture by Eddie Guerrero](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/204692884/40a0ca6a-8af0-4138-9699-904d25c4dadf.jpg/r0_0_4957_3305_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Mortgage rates are likely to continue to rise through the rest of the year as south-west residents tighten their budgets.
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Andrew Morris from Warrnambool's Sinclair Wilson said for many clients the interest rate rises would only be just starting to bite.
"As mortgage payments are now taking a far larger portion of income, it will certainly start to impact many people," he said.
"What we have seen following ongoing interest rate rises is a noticeable decrease in the maximum amount people can borrow. It's now very hard for a single person on an average wage to find an affordable property."
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![Jason Leishman from Aussie Home Loans said he'd never seen mortgage rates rise so much so quickly. Picture by Eddie Guerrero Jason Leishman from Aussie Home Loans said he'd never seen mortgage rates rise so much so quickly. Picture by Eddie Guerrero](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/204692884/becba35e-71a0-4433-8f1c-7d33d5db0a0e.jpg/r0_0_5467_3645_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Jason Leishman from Aussie Home Loans said interest rates in the south-west were on par with the rest of the country.
"When you look at the capital cities, we're experiencing the impact just as much as anyone right now," he said.
"The mortgage rates have never gone up so quickly."
Mr Leishman said while rates where likely to drop between one and 1.5 per cent over the next two years, it would continue to rise for the time being.
"We're expecting there may be one more rate increase next month," he said.
Mr Leishman said there was $141 billion worth of fixed rate mortgages set to expire between May and August this year.
"There's a lot of clients who locked in during COVID with rates at 1.9 to 2.1 per cent," he said.
"All of them are going to come off those rates and go to a rate of 5.5 to six percent in the next six months.
"That'll definitely be a tipping point which is why I think the Reserve Bank will have to go on hold."
Mr Leishman said the combination of interest rates, groceries, fuel and electricity all going up at once was putting pressure on households.
"COVID pushed prices up so high that people almost had to borrow an extra $200,000 to get into the market," he said.
"Whereas before the average house price was $350,000 to $400,000, clients are now having to pay closer to $500,000."
Westpac economic spokesman Bill Evans recently said we won't see a rate decline until at least January 2024.
Warrnambool's Karetta Finance mortgage broker Peter Smith said he hadn't received any clients in financial distress at this stage.
"I believe the region's faring reasonably well, although a lot have tightened their belts," he told The Standard.
Mr Smith said fixed interest rates on a few lenders had dropped by 0.2 per cent in the past two weeks.
"It indicates that we may have nearly peaked with the rate rises but it's a bit hard to judge on what the government's going to do.," he said.
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