The latest property doom and gloom headline from Sydney has the Telehttp://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18180305-5001021,00.html complaining that the Sydney property market has become so expensive that most young couples will never pay off their mortgage within their lifetime.
Debt sentence for homebuyers
By RICKY SUTTON
February 18, 2006
THE Sydney property market has become so expensive that most young couples will never pay off their mortgage within their lifetime.
And housing affordability has plunged to the same dire level as during the recession, with crippling prices now matching the punishing 17 per cent interest rates of the late 1980s as an obstacle to ownership.
Housing Industry Association research -- prepared exclusively for The Saturday Daily Telegraph -- paints a grim picture for aspiring homebuyers.
Experts believe that if you have not staked your spot in the Sydney housing market by now, you will never own a home here in your lifetime.
The warning came as Reserve Bank chief Ian Macfarlane said the next move in interest rates would be up.
In Sydney, house prices are now nine times household income, creating a generation priced out of the Australian dream.
The cost of buying a home in Sydney is now $518,000, far outstripping other cities. The average annual salary in Sydney is $61,000.
Housing Industry Association NSW executive director Wayne Gersbach said low interest rates were no help to young homebuyers.
"An average Sydney home is as unaffordable now as it was back in the late '80s when interest rates reached 17 per cent," he said.
Australian Consumers Association finance analyst Dr Nick Coates said it was reaching the stage where new entrants to the market would find home owenership impossible to achieve.
HIA figures released to The Saturday Daily Telegraph show the extent house prices are impacting more heavily on Sydneysiders than people in other cities.
Minimum monthly mortgage payments in Sydney account for 37 per cent of household income.
That compares with 29 per cent in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, 25 per cent in Perth and 22 per cent in Adelaide.
"Increasingly, NSW families are asking how their children are going to afford home ownership," Mr Gersbach said.
The housing dilemma has prompted The Daily Telegraph to launch a six-month market survey. Our website will track the trends, investigate how a generation is being locked out of home ownership and ask readers to share their experiences.
Developers blame rising prices on a raft of federal and state parliament taxes. They are preparing to challenge them in a high-profile advertising campaign.
Dr Coates, from the Australian Consumers Association, said people were being stretched financially in all directions.
This was echoed by Mr Macfarlane, who told a parliamentary committee yesterday: "Attitudes appear to be changing, with people becoming more willing to borrow against assets later in life."
Debt sentence for homebuyers
By RICKY SUTTON
February 18, 2006
THE Sydney property market has become so expensive that most young couples will never pay off their mortgage within their lifetime.
And housing affordability has plunged to the same dire level as during the recession, with crippling prices now matching the punishing 17 per cent interest rates of the late 1980s as an obstacle to ownership.
Housing Industry Association research -- prepared exclusively for The Saturday Daily Telegraph -- paints a grim picture for aspiring homebuyers.
Experts believe that if you have not staked your spot in the Sydney housing market by now, you will never own a home here in your lifetime.
The warning came as Reserve Bank chief Ian Macfarlane said the next move in interest rates would be up.
In Sydney, house prices are now nine times household income, creating a generation priced out of the Australian dream.
The cost of buying a home in Sydney is now $518,000, far outstripping other cities. The average annual salary in Sydney is $61,000.
Housing Industry Association NSW executive director Wayne Gersbach said low interest rates were no help to young homebuyers.
"An average Sydney home is as unaffordable now as it was back in the late '80s when interest rates reached 17 per cent," he said.
Australian Consumers Association finance analyst Dr Nick Coates said it was reaching the stage where new entrants to the market would find home owenership impossible to achieve.
HIA figures released to The Saturday Daily Telegraph show the extent house prices are impacting more heavily on Sydneysiders than people in other cities.
Minimum monthly mortgage payments in Sydney account for 37 per cent of household income.
That compares with 29 per cent in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, 25 per cent in Perth and 22 per cent in Adelaide.
"Increasingly, NSW families are asking how their children are going to afford home ownership," Mr Gersbach said.
The housing dilemma has prompted The Daily Telegraph to launch a six-month market survey. Our website will track the trends, investigate how a generation is being locked out of home ownership and ask readers to share their experiences.
Developers blame rising prices on a raft of federal and state parliament taxes. They are preparing to challenge them in a high-profile advertising campaign.
Dr Coates, from the Australian Consumers Association, said people were being stretched financially in all directions.
This was echoed by Mr Macfarlane, who told a parliamentary committee yesterday: "Attitudes appear to be changing, with people becoming more willing to borrow against assets later in life."
