Consumer News

NSW affordability increases, but first homebuyers decrease

5 July 2017

By Tim McKibbin – REINSW CEO

The March 2017 Housing Affordability Report from the Adelaide Bank and the Real Estate Institute of Australia Report showed that housing affordability improved in NSW.

The proportion of family income required to meet loan repayments decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 36.1%. The average loan to first home buyers also decreased by 5.4% over the March quarter.

Although on paper this is good news, the reality is that the number of loans to first home buyers decreased by 16.2% to 3,597. First home buyers also only make up only 12.3% of the NSW owner-occupier market - the lowest in Australia.

The NSW Budget has brought in new stamp duty exemptions to support first homebuyers, but only time will tell if it encourages more of them to enter the market.