Australians looking to buy a home in Sydney will now need to earn $278,000 a year to afford a property in the New South Wales capital.
The shocking figure was revealed following an analysis of PropTrack data by Finder.com.au.
Homebuyers need to earn twice as much money as they did in 2020 just to afford a median-priced home in all capital cities except Darwin and Melbourne.
That’s equivalent to earning between $50,000 and $150,000 more per year to be able to enter the job market, taking into account the increase linked to rising interest rates and housing prices.
The data is based on the typical loan rate charged by lenders after a 20 percent deposit is made to purchase a home.
The median house price in Sydney is $1.4 million, meaning a family would need to earn around $278,000 a year just to repay the loan.
This represents an increase of 115 percent compared to July 2020.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that average wages rose by just 12 per cent over the same period.
Australians looking to buy a home in Sydney will now need to earn $278,000 a year to afford a property in the New South Wales capital (file image)
To enter Adelaide’s property market, homebuyers now need an annual income of around $148,000, up 131 per cent from 2020.
Brisbane buyers saw a 128 per cent increase on 2020 figures and now need an income of almost $166,000.
Melburnians are expected to earn an annual income of around $172,000, which represents a 74 per cent increase from 2020.
Finder’s head of research, Graham Cooke, was alarmed by the rapid changes.
“It’s no secret that housing is unaffordable, but these numbers are still staggering,” Cooke said. Daily Telegraph.
“Unless they changed careers or had a major change in circumstances, few people’s incomes would have increased at a similar rate.”
“In many places, you need to earn twice as much as you did four years ago.”
“It’s a dramatic change,” he said.
Homebuyers need to earn twice as much money as they did in 2020 just to afford a median-priced home in all capital cities except Darwin and Melbourne (file image)
He added that unless potential homeowners had a major change in circumstances or changed careers, very few people’s incomes would have risen to match the required income increase.
The huge increase in income required is not as drastic for apartment buyers, with increases ranging from 50 to 75 percent.