Aussie exposes the brutal reality of buying a home with a mortgage: ‘These are the things the bank won’t tell you’

A business coach has warned that buying a home is actually a 30‑year trap, as she exposes what a mortgage will really cost you in 2026.

Martene Wallace used Australian Bureau of Statistics data to outline how much the average mortgage costs over a standard 30-year term. 

‘Borrow $700,000 and pay back $1.6million. That’s not a scam, that’s the average Australian mortgage,’ she said.

‘Let me explain the maths nobody shows you before you sign.

‘On a $700,000 loan at 6.5 per cent interest over a 30-year term, the monthly repayments are $4,424. Sounds manageable, right?

‘The total you pay over 30 years is $1.6million. That’s almost $900,000 in interest alone. Here’s what that actually means – you’ve paid for two houses. 

‘You live in one, the bank keeps the other.’

She went on to say that if a borrower couldn’t afford the repayments for a 30-year loan, they could take out a 40-year term instead but would end up in a worse position, paying total interest of $1.25million on the $700,000 loan.

‘You paid for nearly three houses and you still have one,’ she said. ‘How the hell can this even be legal? How are people even buying houses?’

Ms Wallace then outlined what ‘should make your blood boil’.

‘They lent you $700,000 of money that didn’t exist until you signed the paperwork. They typed it into existence,’ she said. 

‘You spend 30, maybe 40 years paying it back with real hours, real sweat, real weekends missed and real time away from your kids.

‘They created it with a keystroke. They call it the Australian dream, I call it a 30-year trap with a white picket fence. The first step to escaping a trap is seeing it.’

Furious Aussies were quick to share their thoughts on the video.  

‘It should be illegal for banks to charge more interest than the value of the loan,’ one person commented. 

‘The fact the government lets banks have variable rate mortgages is criminal. And you can only lock in for a few years,’ another said.

Others pointed out that at the end of a 30-year loan, most buyers come out on top.

‘Your house will be worth at least $5million in 30 years. What’s your point?’ one said. 

‘If total mortgage repayments amounted to $1.6million after 30 years and the property was then sold for $3million, this would result in a $1.4million gain,’ another said.

‘In effect, this means you not only lived in the home for 30 years at $0 cost, but also generated substantial wealth of $1.4million. 

‘Renting for $600 per week is average for a house. It will cost you $940,000 and it’s dead money. Paying$ 1.5million in a loan for a $700,000 house in 30 years could be worth between $4million and $6 million in 30 years.

‘So, take a loan, it’s the best way to go.’

Ms Wallace shared a series of tips to Aussies with a mortgage, the first being to make payments weekly instead of monthly.

‘You’ll make 13 months of payments in 12 and slash years off your loan,’ she said. 

Her next tip was to shop around regularly for lower rates.  

‘Refinance. Even 0.5 per cent lower saves tens of thousands. Banks reward loyalty with complacency, not discounts. Find a lower rate and ring your bank and see if they’ll match it. Be willing to walk if they don’t,’ she said. 

Her other tips included using an offset account, making extra repayments and using tax returns and bonuses to ‘throw lump sums at the principal’. 

It comes after the Reserve Bank lifted interest rates earlier this month, in another blow to already stretched household budgets. 

The central bank raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent – the first increase since November 2023. 

According to the ABS, the total number of new loan commitments for dwellings rose 5.1 per cent in the December quarter while the value rose 9.5 per cent.