RESIDENTS of the City of Whittlesea earn more money than five years ago, but pay more on their mortgages, according to the latest census figures.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 data also reveals almost 16 per cent of home buyers are under mortgage stress, with housing repayments exceeding one third of the monthly household income.
About 7.5 per cent of renters pay more than one third of their income for housing.
The new figures confirm what community leaders and residents know – the city is growing rapidly, up from 124,647 people to 154,880, representing about a 6000 a year increase in population over five years.
The ABS figures show the median family income has risen from $1102 to $1375 a week since the 2006 census, and household income has increased from $1043 to $1275. But mortgage costs have also jumped, with the median monthly repayment now $1863, up $583 a month or about $145 a week.
Only 7.5 per cent of Whittlesea residents earn more than $3000 a week, while 20.6 per cent earn less than $600.
Although 61.7 per cent of residents are born in Australia, 54.5 per cent said both their parents were born overseas. Two or more languages are spoken in almost half the homes in Whittlesea, including
Macedonian, Italian, Greek, Arabic and Vietnamese.
The major religion is Catholic with 33 per cent, followed by Eastern Orthodox at 15.4 per cent, while almost 14 per cent said they had no religion. Anglicans and Muslims rated 7.3 per cent and 6.6 per cent
respectively.
The majority of residents are couples with children (52.7 per cent) or childless couples (29.8 per cent), while almost 16 per cent were single-parent families. Of single-parent families, 84 per cent were mothers and 16 per cent fathers.
