The median full-time Australian income is currently around $85,000.
But new research from Canstar published in The SMH shows how owning an Australian house is now reserved for the wealthy, and middle Australia need no longer apply.
Sydneysiders now must earn more than $250,000 to borrow enough money to buy a typical house:
While Sydney values declined $134,336 in the year to March 2023, borrowers needed an extra $50,700 due to the sharp rise in mortgage rates.
Melburnians required an income of nearly $180,000 to purchase a median priced house in March 2023, up $34,000 from year prior:
Brisbane borrowers required an income of nearly $145,000 to buy a median priced house, up $27,900 from March 2022:
Perth borrowers required an income of nearly $124,000 to purchase a median-priced home in March, up $30,000 from a year earlier:
Across the combined capital cities, borrowers required an income of nearly $178,000 to purchase a median-priced home in March, up $35,400 from a year earlier:
The situation will obviously have worsened since March given dwelling values across the five major capitals lifted by 2.1% over April and May:
The RBA also lifted the official cash rate another 0.25% in May, which has lifted the amount of income required.
Commenting on the results, AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver said first home buyers would find it almost impossible to get into the market at the median house price.
“Prices are still down from their highs, so that is helping, but the roughly doubling interest rates are working against that”.
“That means even if you have a 20 per cent deposit saved up, you’d be struggling to buy at the median”
“Tax data shows that only 1% or 2% of Australians earn above $180,000 a year, so you’d have to be relying on having two high-income earners, or alternatively, relying on the Bank of Mum and Dad to be able to buy”, Oliver said.
The situation is only going to get worse as the Albanese Government floods the nation with a projected 1.5 million migrants over the five years to 2026-27.
Aussie home buyers are facing the Hunger Games as they desperately compete for housing.
