The Role of Savings and Wealth in Reducing ―Wilt‖ between Expectations and College Attendance

Australian banks’ conservative lending practices, together with robust supervision by APRA and the Australian economy’s strong performance since the global crisis, have contributed to a low nonperforming loan ratio compared to other advanced countries (Figures 3 and 4). 5 Despite banks’ high exposure to residential mortgages (56 percent of total loans at end-2010), exposure to high-risk mortgages is small, as less than 10 percent of owner-occupiers had mortgages with loan-to-value ratios higher than 80 percent and debt service ratios greater than 30 percent. 6 Moreover, debt is mainly held by higher income households, with households in the top two income quintiles holding...