When it comes to winners from the Great Australian Property Boom, the baby boomer generation rules the roost.
New data compiled by social research firm McCrindle shows that median house prices have multiplied in value by between 15 and 22 times across Australia’s capital cities in the 40 years to 2021, easily eclipsing wage growth:
Analysis by social research firm McCrindle revealed that wage growth has failed to keep pace with the housing boom across all Australian capital cities.
Melbourne property prices increased the most since 1981, while Sydney has remained the most expensive housing market overall…
Average full-time earnings are now $93,500 – 5.9 times what they were in 1981. However, Sydney house prices are 16.6 times higher and unit prices are 13.2 times higher.
Melbourne’s property market grew the most, with the median house price 21.9 times higher than in 1981 and the median unit price 17 times higher…
Even before this latest national price boom, which has seen dwelling values nationally increase by 20% over the past year, baby boomers were making out like bandits.
Advertisement
According to the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Australia (HILDA) report, Australians aged over 55 experienced by far the biggest increases in wealth between 2002 and 2018 on the back of rising property prices:
And while home ownership rates have fallen sharply among younger cohorts, they have remained steady for older cohorts:
Advertisement
The latest property price boom will only widen the intergenerational wealth divide as those already ‘in’ the market gain at the expense of those locked out and future Australians.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
