Mortgage stress deepened with sharp regional splits: outer suburbs in Victoria (1.17% arrears) and New South Wales (1.07%) were hardest hit, with Craigieburn seeing 3.1% of homeowners behind on payments. Structural factors included high debt-to-income ratios in young family areas, making them rate-sensitive. Western Australia improved markedly—5 years of 80% house price gains cut its arrears to 0.86%—down from seven spots in the national arrears rankings five years ago to just one, while Victoria rose to top the list.