Australian Person Debt Surges

Darlington Musarurwa
28 Dec, 2009
New York City

Australia debt soars to A$1.2 trillion. Glencore International considers IPO. The NSW state extends 50% lowered stamp duty on home purchases for another six months.

[R]3:00 AM New York, 7:00 PM Sydney - Australia debt soars to A$1.2 trillion. Glencore International considers IPO. The NSW state extends 50% lowered stamp duty on home purchases for another six months.[/R]

Australian stock market is closed today for a holiday.

Australia’s Debt Rises A$1.2 trillion

News Ltd. reported today that figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia show that mortgage, credit card and personal loan debts have increased 75% from five years ago to A$1.2 trillion.

Personal debt in the period gained to 100.4% of Australia’s annual GDP, which is one of the highest in the developed world.

According to the report, spending has been spurred by the government’s First Home Owner Grant.

“We are in the midst of the peak spending season when billions goes on the plastic, yet the Reserve Bank data dates back to October''s debt levels only, so that means there are another two months of First Home Owner Grant-fuelled mortgage activity still to be taken into account,” said the report.

Glencore Mulls IPO

Glencore International said yesterday it has sold $2.2 billion of bonds to investors such as Government of Singapore Investment Corp, BlackRock Inc, Zijin Mining Group and First Reserve Corp. The bonds are convertible after the public offering.

Profit in Q1 dropped 69%.

NSW Extends Reduced Stamp Duty

The NSW state government has extended the Housing Construction Acceleration Plan introduced in the 2009/2010 budget for another six months.

The plan, which slashed 50% stamp duty on new homes priced to A$600,000, was expected to end by December 31.

Premier Kristina Keneally said today 1934 new dwellings valued more than A$850 million were built and sold under HCAP.

The report notes that property buyers have saved a total $14.8 million of stamp duty.