What Aussies need to make in a year to be an above-average earner – and what it means for buying a house they can afford

Australians who earn more than $98,218 a year are now considered above-average earners if they work full-time.

With this salary, a single professional can now buy a house worth more than $639,000.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday showed the average full-time wage rose 4.5 per cent in the year to November, to $1,889 a week, before bonuses and overtime.

Someone earning an average full-time salary of $98,218 can now borrow $511,500, and RateCity reveals that banks can lend to a borrower with a 20 per cent deposit about 5.2 times their salary.

The average-income Australian borrower, with $127,875 in savings, could now buy a $639,375 home, if they could manage $3,146 in monthly payments.

That’s below the median house price across all Australian capital cities.

But there are possibilities if they were to buy a dilapidated house near Mount Druitt in Sydney’s outer west or a house in St Albans in Melbourne’s northwest.

In Brisbane, that amount of money can buy a house in Kallangur, in the north of the city.

Mining-rich Western Australia had the highest average full-time salary, $109,600, making it the only state where workers typically receive six-figure salaries.

Perth has a median house price of $708,335, following a 17 per cent rise in the year to January, CoreLogic data showed.

Someone earning just under $110,000 can borrow $544,500 to buy a home worth $680,625.

In New South Wales, the average full-time salary is $98,353, meaning someone can borrow $512,400 to buy a $640,500 house.

This would be insufficient to buy the median Sydney home, valued at $1.395 million, or the mid-market unit at $828,525.

Victoria’s average full-time salary of $96,621 would allow someone to borrow $501,000 to buy a $626,250 home with a 20 per cent deposit.

This is well below Melbourne’s median house price of $942,750.

The Queensland equivalent salary of $95,696 would require a loan of $494,700 to purchase a $618,375 home, which is well below the average Brisbane home price of $888,628.

The median full-time salary in South Australia is $90,241, meaning someone could borrow $458,600 to buy a $573,250 home, which is well below the median house price of $774,969 in Adelaide. .

The Tasmanian equivalent salary of $86,840 means someone could borrow $436,000 to buy a $545,000 home, well below Hobart’s median home price of $692,619.

The Northern Territory median salary of $95,306 would allow someone to borrow $492,200 to buy a $615,250 home, which is slightly more than Darwin’s median house price of $578,342.