Nearly 30 per cent of homeowners believe they would be swamped by their mortgage repayments if interests rates rose, a new survey has found.
The Reserve Bank left the official cash rate at 4.5 per cent following last week's monthly board meeting, saying policy was "appropriate for the near term".
This was the first pause by the central bank in raising rates in four months and left the average variable home loan rate at 7.4 per cent.
A survey by mortgage broker Loan Market found 27 per cent of respondents surveyed said they would be in financial trouble if variable rates hit 7.5 per cent.
But the remainder of the 479 people polled said they could cope with a mortgage rate of 8.0 per cent, and 25 per cent said they could withstand a rate above 10 per cent.
Releasing the survey results on Monday, Loan Market chief operating officer Dean Rushton said people would obviously prefer for rates to stay on hold or be lower.
"(But) it shows that Australian mortgage holders are accustomed to paying higher interest rates with the traditional rate usually around 8.0 per cent," he said.
Mr Rushton said even though the RBA may keep rates on hold for a few months, most economists expected further increases before the end of the year.
