Australian households have a better grip on their mortgage repayments than in recent times, according to the monthly Mortgage Stress-O-Meter released by Fujitsu Consulting.

The May results show mortgage stress amongst Australian households has fallen by 3 per cent over the past month.

The fall in households suffering mortgage stress has been directly attributed to a combination of lower interest rates and Government stimulus handouts.

The report shows nearly one in three suburban families is making more than the minimum required monthly home loan repayment, placing these homeowners in a good position to weather any future financial turbulence.

40 per cent of households were also considering their fixed home loan rate options, with many believing now may be the time to consider locking in a fully or partially fixed home loan rate.

Homeowners should be wary of rising unemployment however and put in place some strategies for dealing with home loan repayments should someone in the household find themselves temporarily out of work.

According to a new study homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, prices has left about 20% of U.S, Wall Street Journal reports. It means 20% of homeowners are ‘underwater’ and till now there is no ways to stabilize the housing market.

Experts of real estate Web site Zillow.com reported that 21.8% of all U.S. homes, representing more than 20 million residences, were in a “negative equity” or “underwater” position after prices dropped more than 14% nationally in the year ended March 31.

All analysis is based on the mortgage balance at the time of purchase and the price changes that have occurred since. It does not take into account that some homeowners may have paid down principal along the way.

Also it may look like a conservative approach because the trend has been for people to strip value from their homes in the form of home equity loans and lines of credit, than to add value by paying down their mortgages.