By Ruza Zivkusic
BRIMBANK’S young families are feeling the pinch from last week’s interest rate rise.
The Reserve Bank’s second interest rise in three months has put families in the financial squeeze, with the standard mortgage rate hitting 7.82 per cent.
Families would have to find an extra $16 a month for every $100,000 they owed.
Vanessa Mill, of Ardeer, bought a $160,000 house with her husband three years ago.
Mrs Mill has a two-year-old girl, but said the financial burden made it impossible for her to be a stay-at-home mum.
And, with constantly increasing petrol prices, she said the family had to reconsider whether the extra drive into the city was necessary with up to $100 needed to fill the tank compared with the $50 of recent times.
“It does limit you to what you can do. We’ll have to reassess our monthly budget, and things like socialising we’ll do once a month instead of every second week,” Mrs Mill said.
She said the extra money going towards the mortgage could have been used for swimming or gym sessions.
She and her husband planned to have a second child next year but would have to reconsider because Mrs Mill would have to stop working.
St Albans’ furniture store owner Asip Demiri believed residents should stop whingeing because interest rate rises were lower than they were were 20 years ago.
“Going back to the late 1980s and early ’90s the rates were around 18 and 19 per cent.
“I certainly have not seen a rate this low in my lifetime,” Mr Demiri said.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I think we need to get a bit more optimistic, get up in the morning and put in a good day’s work.”
However, he admitted the high petrol prices put a burden on his business as he provided a free delivery service to customers.
