‘Backs against the wall’: Life in Sydney’s most mortgaged suburb

Rana Rana is doing everything he can to cover his rising mortgage. Despite working extra hours on weekends and cutting back on necessities, the 38-year-old bus driver and his family are up against the wall.

“I’m feeling the pain. Before [interest rate rises] I never touched my partner’s salary. But now my partner and I, we try to just feed the family at the moment. We don’t have a single penny in savings. Just coping with the mortgage,” Rana said.

“Normally, I’ve never worked on weekends, but now I’m doing it. So, every Sunday, I’m working as well. So, family time is cut.”

Rana is not alone. His suburb of Marsden Park, along with Shanes Park, tops the list of Sydney’s most mortgaged suburbs. More than 6 in 10 homes in these newly built postcodes, about 50 kilometres north-west of the city, are still being paid off.

The median house price in Marsden Park is $1,072,500, up 45.1 per cent in five years, on Domain data.

Life here is becoming an ever mounting struggle. Working around the clock, taking on second jobs, spending less on necessities, having fewer children and moving to different cities are the lengths Sydney homeowners are going to, to make ends meet.

Some of these are solutions outgoing Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe offered as ways to tackle the cost of living crisis, but it is tough for people at the coalface of the fastest increase in interest rates in a generation.

The Reserve Bank began hiking interest rates in May last year, from a record low of 0.1 per cent to 4.1 per cent, sending mortgage costs soaring. It left rates on hold on Tuesday for the second month in row, but it’s scant relief.

Households show signs of succumbing to the economic pressure. Distressed listings have increased in Sydney’s mortgage belt, an unseasonable increase in homes for sale have hit the market this winter and more than 10 per cent of homes resold within two years have traded for a loss.

Rana bought a house and land package in Marsden Park in 2019, with a four-year fixed interest rate of less than 2 per cent.

Last month, he rolled off onto a variable rate that has tripled since he first bought, at the same time the cost of living in every other facet of life has risen.

The family of three have stopped short of cutting back on their daughter’s extracurricular activities, like her karate classes that have increased from $18 to $25, for now.

But the economic situation has dashed their hopes of growing their family as they would be unable to keep up with mortgage repayments without a second income.

”We can’t think about a second [child] now. My wife has to work as well just to afford the mortgage. We can’t continue with the mortgage [if we did],” Rana said. “Every single thing, you name it, is going up. Even shampoo, everything.”

Raman Kour, 30-year-old child care worker

Raman Kour and her husband bought their Marsden Park home for almost $800,000 three years ago on a fixed rate of less than 2 per cent until December this year.

But she fears they will have to move to Brisbane, or further afield, to stay afloat once their home loan reverts to variable rates as they are already struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.

“We’re nervous of coming off [our fixed rate]. That’s why we’re thinking about moving to Brisbane,” said the 30-year-old. “I don’t want to move, but I know most of our friends have moved already. We want to think about our options because we can’t save anything.”

The part-time child care worker, who has a two-year-old daughter, Amaira, said their wages have not kept pace with the cost of necessities.

“Her day care, even the groceries, everything is so expensive like the house price. It’s very hard to live in a city now,” Kour said.

With no family in Sydney to look after her daughter, she is unable to pick up more hours to meet their increased monthly repayments later this year, leaving her husband to work around the clock as a truck driver.

“He’s always working on the weekends. I’m working part-time and that’s the issue. We can’t save more, so it’s just like, hand to mouth.”

Chloe Bernard, 27-year-old college trainer

It is a similar story for second-time mum Chloe Bernard, who has a three-week-old. She will have to return to work, as a college trainer in aged care and disability support, sooner than expected to meet their increased mortgage repayments.

“It’s just unrealistic to keep those repayments up. It has massively impacted our family. It means that my maternity leave is looking like I will have to go back once the paid parental leave finishes,” Bernard said.

The 27-year-old and her husband, a sports journalist, bought their house and land package in 2019 when rates were ultra-low and only moved in last year, due to construction delays during the pandemic.

“We are still only just making ends meet and paying things off, which no one really wants to live bill-to-bill, paycheque-to-paycheque,” she said.

“We’re maybe saving $100 a month by refinancing. But that’s something that is at least going towards things like nappies. Things that, really, we’ve never had to think twice about purchasing or looking for specials at the shops.”

Bernard and her family have had to think twice about expanding their family again.

“We’ve already got our backs against the wall, and it’s just never ending.”

Samita Ghimire, 34-year-old nurse

For homeowner and nurse Samita Ghimire and her husband, an accountant, an entire salary is now dedicated to paying off their home loan, they took out two years ago.

“Everything has gone up. So, it’s very difficult with kids and working. The bills are going higher. Interest rates are going high. We have two loans; one is fixed so that’s a little bit of relief. Otherwise, it was going to be too much. One income is only for the mortgage,” said the 34-year-old.

All we do is work, work, work and pay for the bills.

This is on top of cutting down on groceries and eating out as well as working extra hours to cover their expenses.

“What else can we do? That’s it. Even childcare costs, they give a subsidy, but it still costs $700 or $800, monthly. It’s very hard, it’s very rushed. There’s no time for family. All we do is work, work, work and pay for the bills.”

Himanshu Patel, 42-year-old accountant

Himanshu Patel feels lucky that he has fixed his home loan until December, he is already beginning to feel stretched and has begun cutting back on expenses as well as considering extra work.

“It is a stressful situation because the pay rise did not go up as much as interest rates,” the 42-year-old accountant said.

“We’re controlling our spending. Instead of buying groceries from the supermarket, we go to cheaper options, like the fruit market, Parklea markets. I don’t know how long it will go, but it’s going to be a disaster.”

John Madora, 37-year-old IT professional

IT professional John Madora, 37, and his wife, who also works in IT, recently bought their house for about $1 million after increasing their initial budget of $800,000.

“What triggered us to finally decide on buying was the higher rental prices. So, when the rental rates increased, we were like, now’s the time for us to consider raising our budget just to get into the market.”

While his family have allowed for interest rates to increase by another percentage point, they hope it holds as they are yet to receive their first round of utility bills.

Hadi (66) and Farida (65) Arbabzadeh

Even for locals who do not have mortgages like Hadi and Farida Arbabzadeh, their relatives are feeling the pinch.

The couple, who are 66 and 65, respectively, downsized from The Ponds almost two years ago.

“Our families have two or three jobs, working seven days, they have no life,” Hadi said.

Farida’s sister works as a child care teacher and downsized from Castle Hill to Marsden Park to reduce her mortgage, but is still struggling.

Karamjit Singh, 69-year-old retiree

Karamjit Singh, who moved in with his son in Marsden Park from India two years ago, said his family was suffering from high levels of stress.

“Cost of living is too high now. Our children are feeling more pressure. Their income is less, their monthly [mortgage] instalments are too much, So people are suffering from this higher interest and cost of living,” the 69-year-old said.

Singh, who helped his son paying part of the deposit, said they had cut back on day-to-day expenses and entertainment.

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