> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Australian households - second most indebted in the world
- URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/australian-households-second-most-indebted-in-the-world/
- Published: 2026-08-21T08:36:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-22T12:38:44.000Z
- Author: Nick Hossack
- Tags: Housing

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) provides internationally comparable data on household credit, debt servicing and residential property prices. Together, the three measures provide a useful picture of both household debt and the value of the housing assets sitting behind it.

At the end of 2025, Australian household debt was equivalent to 114.0% of GDP — second highest among the 15 advanced comparable economies, behind only Switzerland. The peer median was 83.1%.

The BIS debt-service ratio (DSR) estimates the share of household income required for interest payments and principal repayments. Australia again ranked second, at 15.5%, behind Norway’s 20.7%. The median among the other countries with available household data was 10.0%. Cross-country DSR levels should be interpreted with some caution because financial structures differ, but Australia’s gap is nevertheless substantial.

Finally, BIS real residential property prices remove consumer-price inflation from movements in house prices. Between the December quarter of 2019 and December quarter of 2025, Australian real residential property prices rose 22.4%. That was the third-largest increase among the 15 countries, behind the Netherlands and Spain. The peer median increase was only 2.6%.

The three charts tell a consistent and well known story. Australia combines exceptionally strong real housing-asset appreciation with exceptionally high household leverage and debt-servicing commitments.

Household debt as a share of GDP 

Q4 2025 — selected advanced economies 

| Switzerland    | 123.0% |
| -------------- | ------ |
| Australia      | 114.0% |
| Canada         | 100.6% |
| Netherlands    | 93.8%  |
| New Zealand    | 91.1%  |
| South Korea    | 88.6%  |
| Norway         | 87.3%  |
| Denmark        | 84.1%  |
| Sweden         | 82.1%  |
| United Kingdom | 73.6%  |
| United States  | 68.1%  |
| Japan          | 61.1%  |
| France         | 59.7%  |
| Germany        | 48.9%  |
| Spain          | 42.8%  |

Source: Bank for International Settlements. Credit to households and NPISHs from all sectors, market value, percentage of GDP. 

Household debt-service ratio 

Q4 2025 — estimated debt servicing as a share of household income 

| Norway         | 20.7% |
| -------------- | ----- |
| Australia      | 15.5% |
| Canada         | 14.0% |
| Netherlands    | 13.0% |
| Denmark        | 11.7% |
| Sweden         | 11.4% |
| South Korea    | 11.2% |
| United Kingdom | 8.8%  |
| United States  | 8.0%  |
| Japan          | 7.5%  |
| France         | 6.0%  |
| Germany        | 5.4%  |
| Spain          | 5.1%  |

Source: Bank for International Settlements. Switzerland and New Zealand do not have BIS household-sector DSR observations. BIS cautions that absolute DSR levels should be interpreted with some care across countries. 

Change in real residential property prices 

Q4 2019 to Q4 2025 — change after consumer-price inflation 

| Netherlands    | +26.3% |
| -------------- | ------ |
| Spain          | +22.6% |
| Australia      | +22.4% |
| United States  | +19.6% |
| Switzerland    | +17.7% |
| Japan          | +14.3% |
| Denmark        | +14.0% |
| Norway         | +5.3%  |
| South Korea    | −0.1%  |
| New Zealand    | −0.9%  |
| United Kingdom | −1.8%  |
| France         | −2.1%  |
| Germany        | −6.2%  |
| Canada         | −7.4%  |
| Sweden         | −9.2%  |

Source: Bank for International Settlements Selected Residential Property Prices. Real prices are CPI-deflated. Change calculated from Q4 2019 to Q4 2025\.