AUSTRALIANS are paying off their mortgages and other domestic debt at record levels, new figures show.
The number of Australians owning their homes outright or switching from renting to ownership has risen to its highest level since 2010, according to results from the St George-Melbourne Institute Household Financial Conditions Report. 
Forty-five per cent of those surveyed had paid off their mortgages, while 47.3 per cent reported having no debt at all.
The strong financial start to 2016 is attributed partly to low interest rates . The level of renting, at 15 per cent, is the lowest recorded since the survey started in 2001 when 25 per cent of -respondents were renting.
The report also found that while people are saving 4 per cent more to buy a home, the number of people saddled with mortgages and HECS debts has also decreased.
"Overall the results show a definite spring in the step of Australian households, with fewer respondents running into debt and fewer respondents drawing on their savings," said the bank's spokesman Ross Miller.BUSINESS P42