A recently sold duplex home in Sydney, with no room for cars, is out of reach for even the top one per cent of earners, sparking anger among many Australians.
The three-bedroom home in Queens Park sold for $3.45 million in May despite having no car space and only one bathroom.
The staggering figure would be unaffordable even for most medical specialists, unless they were neurosurgeons.
The duplex house would be considered a bargain in this part of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where the median house price is $4.17 million, despite being two suburbs from the beach.
The asking price is drastically higher than many homes for sale in the United States, with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms selling for around A$580,000 in Chicago.
A photo of the Queens Park house where the new owners were sarcastically congratulated was shared with X.
A recently sold duplex home in Sydney with no car space is out of reach for even the top one per cent of earners, sparking anger on social media.
The duplex house would be considered a bargain in this part of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where the median house price is $4.17 million, despite being two suburbs from the beach.
‘Congratulations to the young couple with three children with a combined pre-tax income of $600k a year who have worked hard over the last 10 years to save for a 10 per cent deposit in this entry-level half-year. ‘House without parking space and individual bathroom,’ the caption said.
Social media users were left disheartened, with many wondering how they would have a chance to get a foot on the real estate ladder.
‘I don’t know any couple with a combined income of $600,000. They will be fine,” one wrote.
Another added: “I’m willing to bet it’s not his first home.” People who spend millions tend to move up the real estate ladder.
The house, which offers no protection for the car during a hail storm, would be out of reach for even the top one percent.
Only 117,930 Australians earned $421,936 or more, putting them in the top 0.7 per cent of the country’s 15,935,395 taxpayers.
But banks can only lend 5.2 times what a person earns, meaning that even the highest bracket can only borrow $2.194 million to buy a $2.743 million home.
To afford this $3.45 million duplex – with a hefty 20 per cent deposit of $690,000 – would require a salary of $530,769 to borrow $2.76 million.
That would be out of reach even for anesthetists who had an average taxable salary of $431,193 in the 2021-22 financial year.
Someone who bought this duplex on their own would have better luck as a neurosurgeon, who had an average taxable income of $593,221.
Ear, nose and throat surgeons, known as otolaryngologists, typically earned $576,925 compared with $543,818 for urologists and $608,669 for plastic surgeons.
Only eye surgeons, known as ophthalmologists, earned more with a median taxable income of $644,898.
AX Account, Property Reserve Bank, sarcastically congratulated the new owners
Sydney’s median house price of $1.4 million is particularly expensive by global standards; US think tank Demographia rates Australia’s most populous city as the second most unaffordable market in the rich world after Hong Kong.
The median home price is 13.3 times the median income of a low-six-figure household, compared to Vancouver’s equivalent debt-to-income ratio of 12.3.
Sydney is also more expensive than California’s big cities, San Jose in Silicon Valley, which has a debt-to-income ratio of 11.9 compared to 10.9 for Los Angeles and 10.5 for Honolulu in Hawaii.
Melbourne’s 9.8 ratio makes it even more expensive than San Francisco’s 9.7 debt-to-income multiple, which is on par with Adelaide, but ahead of San Diego at 9.5 and Toronto at 9. 3.
But unlike Australia, the United States has cities that are very affordable for middle-income people, and Atlanta has a debt-to-income ratio of just 4.3.
Chicago has an even more affordable debt-to-income ratio: 4.2.
In this Midwestern city, a large house with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms is for sale for $384,900 or A$580,273.
Chicago has an even more affordable debt-to-income ratio: 4.2. In this Midwestern city, a large house with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms is for sale for $384,900 or A$580,273.
A large house in Chicago (pictured) is even cheaper than a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney
In Sydney, $600,000 won’t buy a mid-priced house in any suburb and would only buy a one-bedroom unit in Hornsby.
The $3.45 million Queens Park duplex previously sold for $2.31 million in 2017 and $315,000 in 1994.
The latest price was 35 times an average full-time salary of $98,218.
Just seven years ago, its asking price was 28 times the average salary of $81,531.
Three decades ago, this duplex cost 9.8 times the median salary of $32,240, meaning it was actually more affordable for the typical worker than what is now a median-priced home in Sydney’s west.
A $1.4 million home in Sydney now costs 14.6 times the median full-time salary of $98,218.
