The gap between income and average house prices in Australia is the largest it has ever been.
Australia's house price-to-income ratio established a new record high in the June quarter as income rises modestly⦠https://t.co/kicwP3nuaZ
Chief economist at CP Economics Callam Pickering tweeted this image, which shows the gap growing significantly since the end of the GFC a few years ago.
"It is just impossible for first home buyers to save enough to keep up with the increase in that ratio," Pickering told BuzzFeed News.
In 1975 the average house price ($28,000) was almost four times the average annual Australian salary ($7618).
The national average house price is now $623,000 - which is around 7.8 times the national average annual salary ($79,716, including overtime and performance bonuses), figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.
"Part of the huge increase has been because interest rates have decreased and pushed up house prices but we have seen periods where it gets to an elevated level and then corrects itself," Pickering said, offering a glimmer of hope for Australians who hate their landlord.
The difference is starkest in Sydney where the average buyer in July was spending 13.5 times their annual income to buy a median-priced house of $782,000, analysis based on CoreLogic’s Hedonic Home Value Index found.
