Despite sky-high house prices, many Aussies can’t let go of the dream of owning a home one day – even if it’s just a shoebox with good natural light. The unfortunate news is that aspiring home buyers in almost every capital city now need to earn almost double what they did in pre-pandemic times to afford a house.
In March this year, the ABS revealed that the average price of residential dwellings in Australia passed $1 million for the first time ever. Eeek! If you’re still holding onto hope, a new Canstar analysis has unveiled the minimum annual salary you need to comfortably buy a median-priced house (defined as spending less than a third of your household income on mortgage repayments).
As expected, Sydneysiders top the list when it comes to the income required to buy a home. With the city’s median price jumping from $950,000 in 2020 to a whopping $1,460,000 in 2025, purchasing a house is now only realistic for those earning a gross household income of $272,737. That’s $150,000 more pay than you would have needed five years ago (gulp).
The Sunshine State follows close behind, with Queenslanders now needing to earn around $100,000 more a year than they did before the pandemic to afford a typical home. The study reveals that to buy a median-priced house ($920,000) in Brisbane, you’d need an annual income of $171,862 – a huge jump from $72,628 back in 2020.
Like Queensland, Melbourne buyers now need to earn nearly $100,000 more per year – bringing the total to $160,000 – to comfortably afford the same home they could have snapped up in 2020. The median-priced house has climbed $61,000 in the past five years to $855,000.
Sorry, South Australia – you’ll need to have boosted your income by $90,000 over the past five years to comfortably afford loan repayments on a house. Even our two smallest states, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, aren’t immune, with the income needed to buy almost doubling in both.
Rather than buying property, how about taking a holiday instead (to cheer you up)? Here are our favourite places to go.
The gross income needed to buy a house in Australia:
- Greater Sydney: $272,737
- Greater Brisbane: $171,862
- Greater Melbourne: $159,719
- Greater Adelaide: $154,489
- Greater Perth: $148,604
- Greater Hobart: $131,698
- Greater Darwin: $106,480
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