NEW research linking divorce with mortgage stress and the home affordability crisis comes as consumer advocates warn of loan sharks targeting divorcees.

A study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute followed a cohort of couples, comparing home ownership rates among those who stayed together with those who split up.

"The rate of home ownership amongst those who divorced or separated fell from 69 per cent to below 50 per cent over a two-year period following separation, but for the couples who stayed together, their home-ownership rates rose to 90 per cent," said one of the researchers, Professor Gavin Wood from RMIT University in Melbourne.

He said the rate of mortgage stress - that is, people spending more than 30 per cent of their income in mortgage repayments - rose from 3 per cent of couples to 34 per cent of individuals within one year of separation.

"So within a year of breaking up, you have a third of these people in mortgage stress."

While a woman often keeps the family home, she is often in mortgage stress within a year and one in five divorced women sell the house to fund retirement, the study found. Only one in 10 divorced men does the same.

"So while the male falls out of home ownership, he is more able to adjust his housing costs than the woman," said Professor Wood.

Low-income couples are more likely to split and relationships where the woman earns more than the man are also more vulnerable to divorce, he said.

"That could be because a woman who earns more than the man may be more prepared to leave an unhappy relationship. They are more able to start again," said Professor Wood. The study concluded that the divorce rate "will pose an increasing threat to Australia's traditionally high rates of home ownership".

Census data collected in 2006 showed that 2.5 in 1000people divorced that year, compared to 2.6 the previous year and 2.9 in data collected 10 years ago.

The most recent data showed the median duration of marriage (before divorcing) was 12.5years.

It was more likely that a woman would initiate divorce proceedings than a man.

Katherine Lane, principal solicitor of the NSW Consumer Credit Legal Centre said single parents were often the target of predatory lenders offering short-term loans with big brokerage fees and high interest rates.

The lenders are not banks but often snare desperate people through advertising.