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The shocking decline of affordable Australian housing
at 7:49 am on August 23, 2016 | 105 comments
By Leith van Onselen
Core Logic has released a series of reports recently highlighting the shocking decline of affordable housing options across Australia.
Last week, Cameron Kusher released some research showing that just over one-third of homes nationally are selling below $400,000, resulting in fewer housing options for those on lower incomes:
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The result is even worse at the capital city level, where less than one-in-five (19.1%) of houses and less than one-in-three (31.0%) of units sold were priced below $400,000:
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As expected, the situation is worst in Australia’s two bubble markets – Sydney and Melbourne – with would-be buyers hardest pressed to find anything priced below $400,000 in Sydney:
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At the same time, a separate report from Core Logic shows that the number of suburbs with $1 million median valued homes has more than doubled (+125%) over the past three years, driven by the two major cities:
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In a similar vein, another report from Core Logic shows that the number of homes selling with a price tag of at least $1 million has boomed over recent years, with more than one-in-five houses (20.9%) at the capital city level selling for over $1 million:
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Again, with Sydney and Melbourne dominating:
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The 2016 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, released last month, also revealed that entry level homes – i.e. those priced at the 10th percentile – skyrocketed in value between 2001 and 2014, rising by 108% over that period, compared to 47% growth for 90th percentile properties at the top end of the market:
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The above data, combined with the collapse in home ownership among younger Australians (see below), paints a damning picture of Australia’s housing market.
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Like in New Zealand, housing affordability should be the centre of political focus and debate in Australia. But instead all parties are refusing to address the great housing elephant, let off the hook by an apathetic electorate that prefers to complain about Australia’s low medal tally at the Olympics.