Saving 20% deposit in Sydney requires nearly two years’ income
Potential first home buyers in Sydney would have to save 168% of their annual income in order to save a 20% deposit.
Potential first home buyers in Sydney would have to save 168% of their annual income in order to save a 20% deposit.A study by CoreLogic and the Australian National University has found the proportion of average household annual income needed to save a 20% deposit for a median-priced house in Australia has grown from 86% in September 2001 to 139% in September 2016. The picture is even bleaker in Sydney, where the proportion has grown from 117% in 2001 to 168% in 2016.
Other capital cities have seen similar affordability problems. The proportion of income needed to save a 20% deposit for a home in Melbourne has grown from 93% to 143%, while Brisbane has seen the proportion jump from 74% to 114%.
“The 20% deposits have never been so difficult, and on that measure we have never seen affordability as challenging as what it is at the moment,” CoreLogic research head Tim Lawless said.
Lawless suggested that housing affordability woes were likely to dominate political discourse in the year ahead.
“I really think we will see the affordability debate become much more relevant and hotly contested in 2017. It’s already a very political topic,” he said.
Political mudslinging over housing affordability is already occurring, with the Federal Opposition this week blasting a report from the parliamentary inquiry into the issue which made no recommendations to government.
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