EVERY month a whole street of New South Wales families lose their homes - with thousands more facing a meagre Christmas as they scrape to keep a roof over their heads.  

New data reveals 80 houses are seized a month, while up to a third of people in the worst-hit suburbs are struggling to pay rent.

Private rental stress has spread across NSW, where up to 50 per cent of families suffering housing stress cannot afford essential items.

Latest figures reveal the number of people having their homes seized by banks has soared 22.5 per cent this year.  

In the 10 months to November, the Supreme Court issued 2466 writs of possession, with 825 executed.

Experts believe that is only the tip of the iceberg with many rushing the sale of their homes before they are seized.  

New modelling commissioned by Australians for Affordable Housing reveals the worst hit areas in NSW for housing stress are Sydney, Wyong, the mid north coast, the Hunter and far north coast with one in five families paying most of their income on rent or mortgage.

Across Sydney, those in Auburn, Fairfield, Canterbury, Strathfield, Bankstown and Liverpool are the hardest hit, with up to 28 per cent in those areas suffering housing stress.

"From our experience people pay their housing costs first and then they work out how to meet their other costs with what is left over," AAH spokeswoman Sarah Toohey said.

"You lose the things we take for granted. We call it housing stress but it's not just about being in a dangerous housing situation, it's the pressure that goes on every other area of your life."

Ms Toohey said annual rent rises were gouging families even more, with single-parent families facing heartbreaking decisions this Christmas. She added: "It's forcing households into the choices you should not have to make."

Carly Nancarrow's children are more worried about having a home than unwrapping Christmas presents.  

The Illawarra mother of three and her children have to move out of their rental home by early January after authorities deemed it unsafe for them to live in.

"The older children are not concerned about Christmas presents this year. They know the reality is if we don't find a house, we are on the street," she said. "We have until January 16 to find a home."  
Comments on this story

   Andrew of Mitcham Posted at 12:27 PM Today

       QB - that's a bit unfair, isn't it - people have to put a roof over their heads and rent or mortgage costs have risen dramatically. Power bills have soared. Incomes have not risen in line with CPI. My rent is more than half of my wage.  

   MangleWurzle of WA Posted at 12:11 PM Today

       Businesses are closing throughout my town because rents have started rising to meet house prices, 400% increase in commercial rent over 4 years, yet people still think high property prices are a good thing? Morons the lot of them. Could someone please tell me one thing about high house prices that benefits everyone?

   Peter of WA Posted at 12:08 PM Today

       So move to more affordable towns. We don't all have to live in capital cities or spiffy coastal localities. Last year I lived in a pleasant 3x1 house in Toowoomba at $240 a week. Just do it.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/cost-of-living/on-struggle-street-mortgage-and-rent-stress-leaving-families-homeless/story-fnagkbpv-1226203237155#ixzz1eUh8tS2B

so obviously we need a carbon tax and a flood levy to make things more expensive.

this govt has no idea.

longweekend58 wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 1:43pm:

What an odd thing to say.
Carbon tax through offsets actually gets more money in the pockets of those affected.  And how does a flood levy make things more expensive. A flood makes things more expensive, but a tax levy ?

Problem is simple the result of a housing boom.  No harmless way out of this other than a slow stagnation of house prices such that inflation captures up with them.

This may be due to an earlier article I read where home sales in Kirribili NSW were being sold at a cut price rate as many job losses are happening from the top executive spots. Also there are many property investors out there that own more than 2 to 300 properties, if not thousands. If a property investor goes under or sells property to buy onto the share market when it at its lows this would make a dramatic impact to these statistics.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 2:44pm:



I agree regarding the purpose of housing, and Yes, negative gearing is a major factor in the excessive pricing, but nobody forced them to take out loans for exorbitant amounts, with little or no allowance for unforeseen hardship.  The media might have influenced them, but we do have free will......

Sprintcyclist wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 3:27pm:


what about an unfair tax system which encourages hoarding and speculation of property and inflating house prices thus making it extremely difficult for first home buyers to compete !! This was happening under the libbos as well and they did nothing about it, not to mention the first home buyers scam designed to inflate the bubble and not help out first home buyers at all