More than one in ten Australians with mortgages had less than $1,000 in savings, according to 1,000 Australians surveyed for InfoChoice's State of Aussies' Savings report.
Another 15% reported having between $1,000 and $4,999 saved.
The findings come amid continuously high interest rates, with concern another hike could be on the cards next week.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board has hiked the cash rate 13 times in just over two years, leading banks and home loan lenders to do the same.
The average owner-occupier taking out a new home loan in May received an interest rate of 6.30% p.a. - 3.7% p.a. higher than they would have two years' earlier.
Such an increase would bolster the repayments on a $500,000 home loan by more than $1,000 a month, lifting them to over $3,000 a month.
See also: Mortgage repayment calculator
One in four Australians who own their home with a mortgage now appear to be in housing stress, spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs.
That coincides with how many mortgage holders have between $500,000 and $1 million of debt (25.5%), while nearly one in twenty hold more than $1 million of debt.
Only four in ten mortgage holders use savings to minimise interest
When it comes to making their savings work for them, a decent proportion of those with a home loan use extra cash to minimise their interest bill.
However, a fair chunk still keep savings in a savings account, where interest earned is both taxable and likely less than the interest that could be saved through the use of an offset account or redraw facility.
More than a third of those with a home loan kept the most of their spare funds in an offset account, while over 8% made the most of a redraw facility.
Meanwhile, another third of home loan holders keep savings in a savings account.
That perhaps suggests homeowners are either unaware of the benefits of an offset account or redraw facility, or their savings balance isn't enough to bother using the tools.
As offset accounts typically demand fees, a person with a low savings balance might find the cost outweighs any interest savings realised.
Indeed, the higher a homeowner's savings balance, the more likely they are to use an offset account, and the lower their balance, the higher the chance they keep most of their funds in a savings account.
Nearly one in ten mortgagors simply keep their money in a transaction account where no interest is saved nor earned.
15% of property investors live in a rental
Finally, close to one in six property investors were found to rent the place they live - a tactic known as rentvesting.
Rentvesting is generally thought to mean buying in an area you can afford while renting in a spot you like to live.
At the same time, three out of every hundred appear to be 'nestvesting'; investing in property while living in a family home (or the 'nest').
More than 67% of property investors were found to have more than four months of savings banked up, compared to more than 43% of those who don't own an investment property.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
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