Housing affordability continues to be a problem in patches, a new report shows.
The Real Estate Industry Association’s (REIA) latest Housing Affordability Report shows the average loan repayment now amounts to 48.1% of the median family income, 1.3 percentage points more than last quarter.
REIA president Leanne Pilkington said that while Victoria saw a marginal improvement, and small improvements were seen in the NT and the ACT, affordability declined in most states.
“Declines ranged from 1.0 percentage points in Tasmania, to 1.8 percentage points in South Australia”, Pilkington noted, adding that rental affordability also declined over the quarter.
“Nationally, the proportion of income required to meet median rents increased 0.2 percentage points over the quarter to 24.6%.
“Across the states and territories, movement has been mixed: rental affordability improved over the quarter in NSW, Tasmania, and the ACT, and declined in all other states and territories.
“Declines ranged from 0.2 percentage points in South Australia and the NT to 0.6 percentage points in Victoria.”
On a positive note, Pilkington observed that the number of first home buyers increased to 30,636, 18.6% more than in the last quarter and 77.2% more than in the June quarter 2023.
“First home buyers now make up 36.6% of the owner-occupier dwelling commitments, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points over the quarter but an increase of 0.1 percentage points over the year”, she added.
Over the June quarter, the number of first home buyers increased in all states and territories. The smallest increase was seen in South Australia (9.2%) and the largest in the Northern Territory (39.3%), although with only 290 loans to first home buyers, the NT continues to be the nation’s smallest market.
“The average loan size to first time buyers increased to $532,429”, Pilkington noted, adding that over the June quarter, the average loan size overall increased to $629,249 dollars.
“This is an increase of 3.6% over the June quarter, and 7.9% over the past 12 months”, she concluded.
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