Update: Australian Housing Affordability

Iden Money presents excerpts from the REIA Deposit Power Housing Affordability report for the September quarter 2010.

(This article is an update on the original article on Housing Affordability and looks at housing affordability on a national basis for September 2010 quarter. Click here to see the original article.)

The year to September 2010 recorded the largest annual decline in housing affordability since the beginning of the decade, with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increasing 5.8 percentage points to 34.8% over the year.

Over the September quarter, housing affordability decreased 0.2 percentage points nationally. Despite the decline, some states and territories experienced a moderate improvement in affordability over the quarter, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria where declines were evident.

During the quarter, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate remained on hold at 4.5%. Whilst the average quarterly standard variable rate remained unchanged during the quarter, average quarterly fixed rates declined moderately, albeit enough to record the largest quarterly decrease observed during the year.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded a decline in housing affordability, but it remained the most affordable state or territory to own a home, with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increasing 0.8 percentage points to 18.8%; 16.0 percentage points below the national average. Read More »

Housing loan numbers begin to fall for first home buyers

(source: REIA Housing Affordability Report, September Quarter 2009)

Although there were no significant changes in housing affordability in the September quarter, the total number of loans began to decrease, particularly in the first home buyer market.

The number of loans to the first home buyers decreased by 11.7% to 48,507 loans. Despite this decrease in the September quarter, over the year, loans for first home buyers nationally increased by 72.8% and the total number of loans increased by 41.3%.

The Australian Capital Territory remained the most affordable state or territory in which to buy a home, where the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increased slightly to 17.2%.  This is 11.8 percentage points below the national average. New South Wales remained the least affordable state or territory in which to buy a home, where the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increased to 31.2%; 2.3 percentage points above the national average.

For the September quarter, Tasmania and Queensland showed the biggest improvement in housing affordability, with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments decreasing by 1.3 percentage points. Housing affordability in Victoria declined the most, with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increasing by 0.9 percentage points for the September quarter.

Housing Affordability in Australia

(This article looks at housing affordability on a national basis, covering data available as at March 2009 and analysing each state and territory individually. Historical data back to 1986 is also included.)

QUESTION:

Why is it that you can buy your dream home in one region of Australia for far less than in another region? Not just in different states but in different regional areas within states?

What drives market house prices? The answer is many things, but a few have considerable influence on the amount of money you have to pay for a house in the area you want to live.  Some major factors are: Read More »