The after-effects of the mis-selling of home loans by mortgage brokers in south-western Sydney in the early 2000s continue to linger, with loans from that era and that location being among the worst performing home loans, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia.The RBA surveyed issues around the gentle, but nevertheless persistent, rise in the level of home loan arrears in its quarterly statement on monetary policy.According to the RBA, "The worst performing loans in recent years have generally been those extended towards the end of earlier periods of strong local housing price growth and easier lending standards."It said that in Queensland and Western Australia these were the loans extended between 2006 and 2008.In New South Wales, it was those made between 2003 and 2005 - a period that helped usher in the present regulation of mortgage brokers and generated plenty of work for the Supreme Court of NSW in reviewing loan contracts.First-home buyers making use of inflated government grants in 2008 and 2009 (First Home Owners Grant) are a recent cohort of borrowers some surmise may be driving the most recent rise in home loan arrears. The RBA, however, disagrees.The arrears' rate for the 2009 cohort, which includes an above-average number of first-home buyers, is only half the long-run national average, the RBA said.