DESPITE fewer Australians owning their homes outright, the 2006 Census data has revealed that the dream of home ownership is still alive.
The Real Estate Institute of
The percentage of people who own or are buying their home has fallen to 64.8% from 66.3% five years ago, and from 69.1% twenty years ago.
The Deposit Power/REIA Home Loan Affordability Report found that Australian families needed 34.8% of their family income to pay an average home loan in the March quarter 2007.
“The reason for the dramatic decrease in the percentage of people who own their home outright, and for the overall fall in home ownership or purchase, is that home loans are much less affordable now than they have been in the past. Since 1994, the trend in home loan affordability has been a downward plunge.
“The Census data confirms that rents are increasing, affecting 27.2% of households. Rental affordability is of concern across the country,” he added.
Joyce said Federal, State and Territory Governments should take, including reducing or abolishing state property taxes, reversing the shift of infrastructure development charges to individual home buyers from the general tax base, addressing land supply constraints, increasing the First Home Owners Grant to $14,000 and index-linking it to median house prices.
Meanwhile, the 2006 Census shows more people are in the process of buying a home than a decade ago.
According to the figures, 32% of
The highest percentage of people buying homes was in the nation’s capital (36.9%) followed by
In contrast, only 27.1% of the
The latest Census also revealed home buyers are paying the same proportion of their household income on mortgage repayments than they were 10 years ago.
The Census revealed the median mortgage repayment is $15,600 a year, or 27% of the median annual household income of $57,174. A decade earlier, in 2006 dollar equivalents, the median mortgage of $12,132 was 27% of the annual median household income of $43,784 in
The Mortgage & Finance Association’s chief executive officer Phil Naylor said while home affordability is a concern, the average loan repayment appears to have kept pace with income growth over the past ten years.
“Although a mortgage is the biggest expense for many households, the Census figures suggest home ownership is within reach, with close to 70% of households either paying off their home or owning it outright,” he added.
NSW had the highest median monthly loan repayments of all the states and territories ($1517) and
Home ownership was most common in
Australian Property Journal
