--- title: "21241 – Household Leverage" url: https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21200/series-21240/21241-household-leverage/ date: 2026-10-05 modified: 2026-10-05 lang: en author: "Nicklas Clark" description: "APN Codex Node 21241 21240 — Household Finance & Spending Certified Household Leverage Z-Score +0.6894σ Period Q2 2026 Position 49.7 of 148 qtrs Vintage 2026-Q4 1Node Definition Household Leverage (21241)..." word_count: 917 --- # 21241 – Household Leverage - APN Codex Node 21241 21240 — Household Finance & Spending Certified ### Household Leverage Z-Score+0.6894σPeriodQ2 2026Position49.7 of 148 qtrsVintage2026-Q4 1Node Definition Household Leverage (21241) measures how fast households are taking on housing debt relative to their income: the change over four quarters in housing debt as a share of annualised household disposable income, in percentage points. Higher readings mean housing debt is rising faster than income. It sits beside Household Finance & Spending (21240), which reads the composition of new lending, and is read alongside Debt-Servicing Burden (21242), which reads what the debt costs to repay. Known limitations The ratio is compiled by the Reserve Bank from ABS financial accounts and national accounts. Housing debt includes the debt of unincorporated businesses, and disposable income includes their income and is measured before interest is paid. Both are revised as the ABS revises its accounts. The level of the ratio is not standardised: it rose from 32% in 1988 to a peak of 139% in 2022, so a standardised level would largely measure the passage of time. The four-quarter change is used instead, and the level is shown as context. 2Metric Definition **Primary metric: Node Z-Score (Z21241)** Z-Score Construction Current (Q2 2026)+0.6894σ LtHousing debt as a share of annualised household disposable income, end of quarter t: 134.90% in June 2026, 132.12% a year earlier μ, σBaseline mean and sample standard deviation of the four-quarter change, 2011–2025 (+0.92 and 2.71 points, 60 quarters) **Metric typology:** single-series Z-score of a four-quarter change in a ratio. 3Data Sources | Input | Source | Frequency | Coverage | | ----- | ------ | --------- | -------- | | Housing debt to income | Reserve Bank of Australia, Statistical Table E2 Household Finances – Selected Ratios, BHFDDIH (compiled from ABS 5232.0 and 5206.0) | Quarterly | September quarter 1988 to June quarter 2026 | | Context: household debt to income | RBA Table E2, BHFDDIT | Quarterly | June quarter 1988 to June quarter 2026 | | Context: housing debt to housing assets | RBA Table E2, BHFHDHA | Quarterly | September quarter 1988 to June quarter 2026 | Tier-1 central bank statistics compiled from sovereign statistical releases. No commercial data provider dependency exists within this node. 4Reading History The chart shows the node’s reading in every quarter, measured against the 2011–2025 baseline. Household Leverage (21241) · Reading HistoryNode Z-Score by Quarter, March 2011 to June 2026+0.6894σ · position 49.7, ranked against 148 quarters**Reading, ranked quarters**Normal range (middle 80% of ranked quarters)**Current readingThe June quarter 2026 reading, +0.6894σ, ranks 49.7 against 148 quarters and sits inside the normal range of −1.0025σ to +1.9381σ. The highest ranked reading was +3.9437σ in the March quarter 2004, and the lowest −1.4000σ in the March quarter 2024. Show the data | Quarter | Reading | Basis | | ------- | ------- | ----- | | Q3 1989 | −0.3814σ | Ranked | | Q4 1989 | −0.5076σ | Ranked | | Q1 1990 | −0.8721σ | Ranked | | Q2 1990 | −0.8774σ | Ranked | | Q3 1990 | −0.4998σ | Ranked | | Q4 1990 | −0.3319σ | Ranked | | Q1 1991 | −0.0217σ | Ranked | | Q2 1991 | +0.2434σ | Ranked | | Q3 1991 | +0.5703σ | Ranked | | Q4 1991 | +0.8165σ | Ranked | | Q1 1992 | +0.6880σ | Ranked | | Q2 1992 | +0.6696σ | Ranked | | Q3 1992 | +0.6606σ | Ranked | | Q4 1992 | +0.5439σ | Ranked | | Q1 1993 | +0.8524σ | Ranked | | Q2 1993 | +0.9889σ | Ranked | | Q3 1993 | +1.2615σ | Ranked | | Q4 1993 | +1.5935σ | Ranked | | Q1 1994 | +1.7323σ | Ranked | | Q2 1994 | +1.9323σ | Ranked | | Q3 1994 | +1.9515σ | Ranked | | Q4 1994 | +1.7689σ | Ranked | | Q1 1995 | +1.5495σ | Ranked | | Q2 1995 | +1.1382σ | Ranked | | Q3 1995 | +0.6919σ | Ranked | | Q4 1995 | +0.5842σ | Ranked | | Q1 1996 | +0.4933σ | Ranked | | Q2 1996 | +0.5154σ | Ranked | | Q3 1996 | +0.3885σ | Ranked | | Q4 1996 | +0.5163σ | Ranked | | Q1 1997 | +0.5028σ | Ranked | | Q2 1997 | +0.7000σ | Ranked | | Q3 1997 | +1.0725σ | Ranked | | Q4 1997 | +0.9169σ | Ranked | | Q1 1998 | +1.3206σ | Ranked | | Q2 1998 | +1.3849σ | Ranked | | Q3 1998 | +1.4314σ | Ranked | | Q4 1998 | +1.7535σ | Ranked | | Q1 1999 | +1.4468σ | Ranked | | Q2 1999 | +1.5061σ | Ranked | | Q3 1999 | +1.6311σ | Ranked | | Q4 1999 | +1.4288σ | Ranked | | Q1 2000 | +1.3855σ | Ranked | | Q2 2000 | +1.6338σ | Ranked | | Q3 2000 | +1.4362σ | Ranked | | Q4 2000 | +1.2302σ | Ranked | | Q1 2001 | +1.2206σ | Ranked | | Q2 2001 | +0.8161σ | Ranked | | Q3 2001 | +1.2324σ | Ranked | | Q4 2001 | +1.7307σ | Ranked | | Q1 2002 | +2.1780σ | Ranked | | Q2 2002 | +2.6575σ | Ranked | | Q3 2002 | +3.2093σ | Ranked | | Q4 2002 | +3.4292σ | Ranked | | Q1 2003 | +3.6488σ | Ranked | | Q2 2003 | +3.8892σ | Ranked | | Q3 2003 | +3.7451σ | Ranked | | Q4 2003 | +3.9282σ | Ranked | | Q1 2004 | +3.9437σ | Ranked | | Q2 2004 | +3.3574σ | Ranked | | Q3 2004 | +2.6149σ | Ranked | | Q4 2004 | +1.8534σ | Ranked | | Q1 2005 | +0.8629σ | Ranked | | Q2 2005 | +1.1417σ | Ranked | | Q3 2005 | +0.8139σ | Ranked | | Q4 2005 | +1.2571σ | Ranked | | Q1 2006 | +1.4928σ | Ranked | | Q2 2006 | +1.9594σ | Ranked | | Q3 2006 | +2.0811σ | Ranked | | Q4 2006 | +1.2754σ | Ranked | | Q1 2007 | +0.7398σ | Ranked | | Q2 2007 | −0.0894σ | Ranked | | Q3 2007 | −0.4442σ | Ranked | | Q4 2007 | −0.2360σ | Ranked | | Q1 2008 | −0.0289σ | Ranked | | Q2 2008 | −0.0112σ | Ranked | | Q3 2008 | −0.1532σ | Ranked | | Q4 2008 | −0.8873σ | Ranked | | Q1 2009 | −0.5876σ | Ranked | | Q2 2009 | −0.6628σ | Ranked | | Q3 2009 | +0.0852σ | Ranked | | Q4 2009 | +1.4907σ | Ranked | | Q1 2010 | +1.6988σ | Ranked | | Q2 2010 | +1.8471σ | Ranked | | Q3 2010 | +1.2473σ | Ranked | | Q4 2010 | +0.2235σ | Ranked | | Q1 2011 | −0.2146σ | Ranked | | Q2 2011 | −1.1711σ | Ranked | | Q3 2011 | −1.1361σ | Ranked | | Q4 2011 | −1.1889σ | Ranked | | Q1 2012 | −1.0492σ | Ranked | | Q2 2012 | −0.4804σ | Ranked | | Q3 2012 | −0.0991σ | Ranked | | Q4 2012 | +0.2720σ | Ranked | | Q1 2013 | +0.3542σ | Ranked | | Q2 2013 | +0.7121σ | Ranked | | Q3 2013 | −0.0513σ | Ranked | | Q4 2013 | +0.1258σ | Ranked | | Q1 2014 | +0.0684σ | Ranked | | Q2 2014 | −0.1462σ | Ranked | | Q3 2014 | +0.5893σ | Ranked | | Q4 2014 | +0.4877σ | Ranked | | Q1 2015 | +0.7544σ | Ranked | | Q2 2015 | +1.0445σ | Ranked | | Q3 2015 | +1.0526σ | Ranked | | Q4 2015 | +1.2851σ | Ranked | | Q1 2016 | +1.4524σ | Ranked | | Q2 2016 | +1.5825σ | Ranked | | Q3 2016 | +2.0100σ | Ranked | | Q4 2016 | +1.7913σ | Ranked | | Q1 2017 | +1.6170σ | Ranked | | Q2 2017 | +1.5213σ | Ranked | | Q3 2017 | +1.1678σ | Ranked | | Q4 2017 | +1.2208σ | Ranked | | Q1 2018 | +1.0112σ | Ranked | | Q2 2018 | +0.4843σ | Ranked | | Q3 2018 | −0.0779σ | Ranked | | Q4 2018 | −0.3884σ | Ranked | | Q1 2019 | −0.6390σ | Ranked | | Q2 2019 | −0.6340σ | Ranked | | Q3 2019 | −0.6734σ | Ranked | | Q4 2019 | −0.2149σ | Ranked | | Q1 2020 | −0.4506σ | Ranked | | Q2 2020 | −0.8103σ | Ranked | | Q3 2020 | −0.9986σ | Ranked | | Q4 2020 | −1.3645σ | Ranked | | Q1 2021 | −1.0115σ | Ranked | | Q2 2021 | +0.0213σ | Ranked | | Q3 2021 | +1.0141σ | Ranked | | Q4 2021 | +1.3373σ | Ranked | | Q1 2022 | +1.5480σ | Ranked | | Q2 2022 | +0.9153σ | Ranked | | Q3 2022 | +0.3560σ | Ranked | | Q4 2022 | −0.2889σ | Ranked | | Q1 2023 | −0.7393σ | Ranked | | Q2 2023 | −1.1029σ | Ranked | | Q3 2023 | −1.2916σ | Ranked | | Q4 2023 | −1.2314σ | Ranked | | Q1 2024 | −1.4000σ | Ranked | | Q2 2024 | −1.1646σ | Ranked | | Q3 2024 | −1.2626σ | Ranked | | Q4 2024 | −1.1459σ | Ranked | | Q1 2025 | −1.1459σ | Ranked | | Q2 2025 | −1.1092σ | Ranked | | Q3 2025 | −0.7472σ | Ranked | | Q4 2025 | −0.3672σ | Ranked | | Q1 2026 | +0.4131σ | Ranked | | Q2 2026 | +0.6894σ | Ranked | Z-Score+0.6894σQ2 2026Position49.7ranked against 148 quartersChange over the year+2.78 pointsbaseline average +0.92Housing debt to income134.90%June 2026Household debt to income178.39%contextHousing debt to housing assets21.86%context; 2011–2025 average 25.56% 5Analytical Interpretation At +0.6894σ (Q2 2026), housing debt rose 2.78 points faster than income over the year to June 2026, from 132.12% to 134.90% of annual disposable income. It is the largest four-quarter rise since June 2022 (+3.40 points). From March 2023 to December 2025 every four-quarter change was negative, as disposable income grew faster than housing debt; the change turned positive in March 2026. **Position.** 49.7, ranked against 148 quarters since September 1989. The current rise sits near the middle of the record because the 1990s and early 2000s held much larger ones: the four-quarter change peaked at +11.59 points in March 2004. Measured against the value of housing rather than income, households are less geared than over most of the past fifteen years: housing debt is 21.86% of housing assets, against a 2011–2025 average of 25.56%. 6Related Nodes The other household burden nodes and the household finance node beside them. [21242 →Debt-Servicing BurdenScheduled housing loan repayments as a share of disposable income. Q1 2026: +1.4335σ, 86.8 of 69 quarters.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21200/series-21240/21242-debt-servicing-burden/)[21243 →Mortgage Cost PressureMortgage interest charges growth less living-cost growth, employee households. Q2 2026: −0.1644σ, 40.7 of 109 quarters.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21200/series-21240/21243-mortgage-cost-pressure/)[21240 →Household Finance & SpendingLending composition, discretionary spending and the high debt-to-income share of new lending. Q2 2026: −0.4375σ.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21200/series-21240/)[Parent index →21200 — Economic Factors (APN Aggregate Macro-Volatility Index™)](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21200/) 7Certification Statement APN Codex Node 21241 — Household Leverage — Certified The input is a Tier-1 central bank statistic (RBA), compiled from ABS financial and national accounts- The Z-score of +0.6894σ (Q2 2026) is derived directly from the input against the 2011–2025 baseline, not manually entered or estimated- The position is an empirical percentile rank against 148 quarters- The ratio’s definitions, its revisions and the use of the change rather than the level are disclosed- No commercial data provider dependency exists within this node **Certified:** 5 October 2026 **Source tier:** Tier-1 central bank statistics (RBA, compiled from ABS) ##### Node Parameters Node21241 Series21200 StatusCertified Z-Score+0.6894σ Position49.7 of 148 qtrs PeriodQ2 2026 Vintage2026-Q4 Baseline μ+0.92 pts Baseline σ2.71 Baseline N60