Australian housing affordability improves
Australian housing affordability improves
Posted on Wednesday, December 04 2013 at 4:21 PM
A joint Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) and Adelaide Bank report shows national housing has become more affordable.
The
Housing
Affordability Report says households nationally are spending less of
their income on housing.
“The September quarter of 2013 recorded an improvement
in housing affordability with the proportion of income required to meet loan
repayments decreasing 1.2 percentage points to 29.8 per cent.”
Compared to the same quarter of
last year, the figure has fallen 3.5 per cent.
The
study shows all states and territories have seen a steady decline in the
proportion of family income needed to meet loan repayments since the September quarter
in 2012.
Interest
rates were cut by the Reserve Bank during the study period, which would
contribute to the result.
The
ACT remained the most affordable state or territory in which to buy a home,
while New South Wales continued to be the least affordable.
Peter
Bushby, president of the REIA, says Tasmania saw the biggest improvement.
“All
states and territories recorded improvements in affordability over the quarter
– the largest in Tasmania, where the proportion dropped by 1.6 percentage
points to 24.6 per cent.”
The
news wasn’t all positive, however, with the report highlighting a drop in first
homebuyer participation.
Bushby
says the results demonstrate the direct impact of pulling back grants by state
governments.
“As
we expected, due to the changes in the First Home Owner Grant introduced by the
Victorian Government, the number of loans to first homebuyers in the state had
the biggest quarterly drop across the country.
“The
consequences of the availability of the grant to those only purchasing new
dwellings are abundantly clear in NSW and Queensland – the number of loans to
first homebuyers in these states is 46.7 per cent and 34.5 per cent lower than
it was a year ago.”
For
renters, affordability worsened slightly on
a national level over the September quarter of 2013 with the proportion of
income required to meet rent payments increasing 0.1 percentage points to 25.6
per cent.
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