Figures compiled by CommSec for The Sunday Telegraph reveal homebuyers on the average income now have to work for 19,374 hours to buy the average Australian house with the average mortgage.
Fifty years ago they needed to work 25 hours to meet the monthly mortgage repayment of $25, based on an average five per cent interest rate and a mortgage of $4620.
Today, the average worker earning $30.04 an hour spends 70.7 hours – or almost two weeks of the month – at work to cover the monthly mortgage repayment for an average $283,000 loan at a 6.64 per cent interest rate.
Whereas homes were once affordable on a single wage, families now realistically need two incomes to fund a mortgage.
Sydney University anthropologist and author Stephen Juan said it now took two incomes and 30 years to pay off the average home.
Mortgages costing the average household 29 per cent of its income put huge strains on the family unit, Dr Juan said.
Dr Juan said that 50 years ago, promises of technology brought predictions of an easier life and more time available for family and healthier lifestyles.
Hugh Pavletich
Co author – Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
Performance Urban Planning
Christchurch
New Zealand
