The typical Australian who might’ve once bought a home a few generations ago is now much more likely to rent thanks to plunging housing affordability, which is now at its worst level in more than 20 years.And they’re flooding rental markets that are beyond capacity, competing with low-income and vulnerable people who are unable to keep pace.
Stark analysis of the state of the country’s housing markets has found both homeowners and renters are struggling to keep a reasonably priced roof over their heads.
When it comes to owning, the proportion of median income needed to repay a new home loan has hit a record high of 48.9 per cent, the latest ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability Report has found.
That’s up sharply from about 43 per cent just a year ago and well above the decade average of 34.8 per cent.
Hopeful homebuyers in a position to squirrel away 15 per cent of their annual income would need to diligent save for more than a decade to meet the minimum 20 per cent deposit for a mortgage.
And that’s based on current median home prices, not accounting for future value growth, so the timeline would likely blow out.
To put the dire situation into perspective, the median house prices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have surged by about 96 per cent in the past 10 years.
Housing Minister Julie Collins said the government had committed more than $25 billion to address the housing crisis over the coming decade.
One of its flagship programs is the Help to Buy scheme will help low- and middle-income Aussies to purchase with just a two per cent deposit. The Commonwealth then takes an equity stake of up to 40 per cent for new dwellings and up to 30 per cent for existing properties.
“We want to help more renters become homeowners through our Help to Buy shared equity scheme, which will reduce the cost of a mortga...
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