Login
ISCOVER
New figures have revealed that housing affordability declined nationwide over the September quarter.
According to the Adelaide Bank/Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) Housing Affordability Report, the proportion of median family income required to meet average loan repayments now stands at 31.7 per cent.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
This is a 1.4 per cent increase for the quarter and up 1.3 percentage points compared to 12 months ago.
“The Australian Capital Territory retained its crown of most affordable relative to income for the September quarter, along with an improvement in Western Australia,” Adelaide Bank general manager Damian Percy said.
“Tasmania was relatively stable with affordability declining in all other states.”
Nationwide the average loan size increased 3.8 per cent to $347,367 for the quarter and by 9.0 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to Mr Percy, the REIA attributed the decline largely to the increasing size of loans with New South Wales, which had an average loan size of over $400,000, approaching $415,000.
“First home buyers in New South Wales are now borrowing 16.7 per cent more than in September 2014,” he said.
“This quarter also sees Victoria beginning to push up against the $400,000 mark.”
Meanwhile, the report also found that New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory recorded an increase in the number of first home buyer loans over the September quarter. However, nationally first home buyers show a 2.2 per cent decrease year-on-year.
[Related: "Sudden surge' in apartments drives building approvals]
