Latest News

A housing affordability survey of Australians found that 87% of non-property owners are concerned about the ability to afford their first or next home.

The CoreLogic Perceptions of Housing Affordability survey was conducted in March from a sample of over 2,000 people aged 18-64. It found that the greatest impediments to housing affordability were having a deposit, stamp duty and foreign buyers.

CoreLogic CEO Lisa Claes said: "Protracted affordability pressures means the outlook is bleak for many young people who want to fly the nest, so parents and their offspring need to be increasingly resourceful and innovative in the way they approach this challenge.

“On the plus side, parents may have space like a garage or rumpus room at their disposal, and with a little creativity, could make use of it to give young people some semblance of independence, even when they can’t afford to fly the nest completely. ‘Cubby Houses’ could well be the new granny flats.”

Here are the results of the survey:

Views on housing affordability

• 62% believe housing affordability is worse now than it was a year ago; 58% believe next year will be even worse
• 76% of property owners are concerned about being able to afford what they want for their next home move (88% among those who live in an apartment).

Market awareness

• 51% are aware that some states provide stamp duty concessions for first home buyers
• 42% know lenders allow you to purchase property with less than 20% deposit
• 29% are aware that banks have limits on the percentage of lending they can do to investors
• 25% know that overseas buyers can only buy new properties (unless they have a residency)
• 27% of mortgage holders say that they would have difficulty in meeting mortgage repayments if interest rates increased by 1%. This jumps to 52% if interest rates increased by 2%.

Choosing where to live

Price is the most important factor for 79% of respondents when selecting where to live, followed by public transport (52%) and proximity to work (45%).

Australians are more likely to consider buying a property that does not meet their criteria (42%) than move interstate (14%) or choose a less desirable suburb (21%).

Help to get on the market

• 62% identified having a secure and well paid job as the greatest help to buying their first home
• 18% of respondents could contribute a 20% deposit towards their next house purchase
• 62% of people living with parents say they live at home because they can’t afford to move out 
• 21% of Australians 18 years and older and still living at home say that they are not expecting to leave home to rent or buy until at least 30 years old
• 40% of respondents living at home say that they will probably rent first before buying a home
• 4% of non-home owners already own an investment property.

Click here to download the report.