Brighter Buying

Brisbane boasts easier buying now than 8 years ago

by Kate Watt, Marketing Manager 27 July 2016

While median prices may have increased, Brisbane is now more affordable than it was eight years ago according to new figures from CoreLogic RP Data.

Their number crunchers have developed a ratio of property prices to household income to measure housing affordability.

If maths isn’t your thing, all you need to know is that a higher ratio means housing is less affordable, while a lower ratio means housing is more affordable.

So how do we stack up?

In March 2016 Brisbane recorded affordability ratios of 6.1 for houses and 4.9 for units. This compares favourably to our least affordable period in September 2008 when the ratio was 6.7 for houses and 5.1 for units.

And we certainly blow Sydney and Melbourne out of the water which have median dwelling ratios of 8.5 and 7.1 respectively.

So is it property prices or household income that sets our capital cities apart?

“With property prices varying greatly between each of the capital cities it is interesting to note that the variation in household incomes is nowhere near as large,” CoreLogic RP Data reports.

Their figures show that Sydney-siders earn around $200 more per week than Brisbane households, but their median dwelling value is $300,000 higher. Ouch!