{"id":762919,"date":"2026-06-27T03:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762919\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T03:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:35:14","slug":"impossible-to-get-a-loan-devastating-tax-hitting-single-mums-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762919\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Impossible to get a loan\u2019: Devastating tax hitting single mums in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Single mothers<\/a> in Australia are copping an \u201cunfair\u201d tax that is surging by thousands of dollars as property prices<\/a> and the cost of basic essentials climbs higher.<\/p>\n

The single tax<\/a> is a well-documented financial affliction impacting adults who live alone, meaning bills, rent and groceries can be effectively doubled compared to a two-person household.<\/p>\n

\"Single<\/p>\n

Single mum Nicki Price said her energy bills have soared recently.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Do you have a story? Contact\u00a0reporter April Glover at\u00a0april.glover@nine.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

This income strain skyrockets when you add children into the mix.<\/p>\n

Sydney<\/a> woman Nicki Price, a single mother-of-two, pays an average of $550 for her family\u2019s quarterly energy bills.<\/p>\n

When winter arrives, the bill shock comes with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectricity and energy has gone up so much, and it just keeps happening,\u201d Price told nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even imagine what it would be like splitting the cost with somebody because it\u2019s just been me for so long, it\u2019s just the norm now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow single mum Lisa Almond lives with her youngest son in Illawarra on the NSW South Coast.<\/p>\n

She \u201cdreads\u201d when her family\u2019s energy bill arrives after it soared to nearly $1000 per quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt falls on my shoulders, there\u2019s no dividing it if the rate increases,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still paying the same amount for energy consumption as if we have had multiple people in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research<\/a> conducted by Compare the Market found the average Australian spends $156.43 per month on energy, totalling $1877 per year.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Energy bills have soared for Australian families.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

While many households with dual incomes can split this down the middle, parents like Price foot the entire bill themselves.<\/p>\n

Around 40 per cent of those living alone estimated they could save up to $100 per month by sharing with another adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you could save from not having to pay for another adult\u2019s energy use, having a child in the house can still use a lot of energy \u2013 think things like washing, cooking, heating or cooling,\u201d Compare the Market\u2019s James McCay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real pressure is felt when those bills are compared to income, which is significantly less when only one adult is contributing financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Single mums slugged with stamp duty, less borrowing power<\/p>\n

Solo parents who sold their marital home are also facing huge property tax fees<\/a> and less borrowing power.<\/p>\n

Almond is hoping to buy for a second time after becoming a single mother and noticed a \u201chuge discrepancy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have to pay all the stamp duty and because I have owned a house before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not entitled to any of those benefits, but I\u2019m still saving on a single income to buy a house again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re basically starting from scratch with no access to any government policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stamp duty in NSW costs around $54,000 for a property priced at $1.324 million.<\/p>\n

Borrowing power is drastically reduced by almost $50,000 if a person has one child.<\/p>\n

A single person with an income of $120,000 and $2500 in monthly expenses can be approved for a $621,300 loan, according to Commonwealth Bank\u2019s calculator.<\/p>\n

Adding a single dependent will see the figure drop to $572,700.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Single mum Catherine Cervasio needed to sell her business’s warehouse to afford a home loan.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Melbourne mum Catherine Cervasio has been a single parent for 20 years.<\/p>\n

She has lost count of the \u201cunfair\u201d added expenses after losing the second income afforded by her ex-partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can come in a lump sum, which is a real shock,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you\u2019ve got the extra pressure and worry of how you\u2019re actually going to fund that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest hit to the bank account was when the skincare founder bought her own apartment.<\/p>\n

Without a partner\u2019s income to lean on, Cervasio struggled to find the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to sell my [business\u2019] warehouse in order to buy my apartment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t go and get a loan, it would be impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three single mums say the system is broken because it operates under the assumption a parent is part of a dual income household.<\/p>\n

They want better government policy to make it easier on single people, including solo mothers.<\/p>\n

While nuclear families are doing it tough, single parent households are \u201cbarely surviving\u201d, Almond said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt literally takes years to just get to the point where you\u2019re not stressing every single week about every single bill,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Single mothers in Australia are copping an \u201cunfair\u201d tax that is surging by thousands of dollars as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-762919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}