Karl Stefanovic loses it at the Reserve Bank and govt on Today Show

 Karl Stefanovic has accused the Reserve Bank of ‘not giving a toss’ about the millions of Australians struggling to keep their homes amid repeated rate rises.

The Today Show host blasted the RBA ahead of its July meeting on Tuesday, where the cash rate was paused at an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent.

The decision marked the first pause since April and follows 12 repeated interest rate rises since May, 2022.

Stefanovic said the RBA couldn’t care less about the millions of families struggling to pay their mortgages amid crippling financial pressures.

‘They have single-handedly crushed, strangled Australian households,’ he said.

‘Aussies who go to work, pay their bills, and just made the mistake of wanting to own their own home. Now you are being held to ransom.

‘Everything you have built is now on the line because our central bank missed the inflation tidal wave. This is what’s worse though. 

‘It’s not overspending respective governments carrying the can. It’s you at home. 

‘It’s you trying to put food on the table, pay your power bills and keep a roof over your family’s head. It’s no wonder it’s breaking Aussies’ spirits right now.’

On Tuesday, the RBA moved to pause interest rates at an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent. 

Governor Philip Lowe hinted at more monetary policy tightening because inflation is still too high, even after the most aggressive rate rises since 1989.

Even if interest rates don’t rise again, mortgage repayments could be still be hiked. 

A borrower with an average $600,000 mortgage, who stayed on a variable rate, would be paying $17,556 more a year on repayments than they did 14 months ago. 

Monthly mortgage repayments have soared by 63 per cent to $3,769, up from $2,306, as a Commonwealth Bank variable rate for a borrower with a 20 per cent deposit climbed to 6.44 per cent, up from 2.29 per cent. 

On Tuesday, the RBA moved to pause interest rates at an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent (pictured, prospective buyers attend an auction in Melbourne in April, 2022)

The RBA’s own financial stability review, in April, estimated that 15 per cent of borrowers would this year have ‘negative spare cash flow’ where their mortgage repayments and essential living expenses exceeded their after-tax income. 

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said this was likely to mean one million borrowers would be in severe mortgage stress by Christmas. 

He said this was because RBA modelling was based on the cash rate falling to 3.75 per cent ‘and we are now well beyond this’. 

‘We are now seeing increasing evidence that rate hikes are biting,’ he said.

Credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service revealed on Wednesday that mortgage delinquencies, where borrowers are 30 days or more behind on their repayments, had risen in the March quarter.

At the Reserve Banks’ July meeting on Tuesday Governor Philip Lowe (pictured) hinted at more monetary policy tightening because inflation is still too high despite the repeated rate rises

Analysts Helen Liu and Alena Chen said borrowers who only recently took out a home loan are most at risk. 

‘We expect delinquencies will continue to increase over the next 12 months because of high interest rates and inflation,’ they said.

‘Borrowers who took out mortgages at very low interest rates in the few years before the Reserve Bank started its monetary tightening cycle pose a particular risk.’

The RBA is bracing for 880,000 fixed rate mortgages to expire in 2023, with some borrowers facing an abrupt 88 per cent surge in their monthly repayments.