Sydney’s Housing Affordability Worst In Australia

Domain has released its house price results for the September quarter, which shows that median house price hit a record high of $1,655,000 following the seventh consecutive quarter gain.

Sydney units also rose for the seventh consecutive quarter, hitting a record high of $815,300. As illustrated in the table below from Domain, Sydney’s median house price is around $573,400 higher than Canberra, which is Australia’s second most expensive capital city.

Recent analysis from CBA showed that Sydney’s housing affordability is easily the worst on record when mortgage payments on the median-priced home are compared against dual average full-time incomes.

PropTrack’s latest housing affordability report also showed that New South Wales is the least affordable state in Australia to purchase a home.

Affordability in New South Wales has deteriorated dramatically since 2020-21 and is now much worse than the previous low seen in 2007-08, based on how many homes people across the income distribution can afford.

According to PropTrack, a median-income household in New South Wales could afford only 10% of homes sold in 2023–24. And a typical renter household, who might be looking to buy their first home, could afford just 8% of homes.

Low-income households are effectively locked out of homeownership at current price levels and interest rates. A household with income at the 20th percentile could afford just 3% of homes sold over the past year, according to PropTrack. Sydney tenants have also been hit hard by soaring rents.

Median asking house rents rose to a record high of $775 a week in the September quarter of 2024, up 49% from $520 per week in the September quarter of 2019.Median asking unit rents were a record high of $720 a week in the September quarter of 2024, up 39% from $517 per week in the September quarter of 2019.

Sydney’s house and unit asking rents are also easily the most expensive in the nation. Given that the Australian Bureau of Statistics projects that Sydney’s population will reach 8.3 million by 2070 as a result of continually high net overseas migration, these trends will continue.