Housing affordability for first-home buyers slumped in the September quarter, as low interest rates and government grants fuelled demand for housing, a report shows.
According to the Housing Industry Association and Commonwealth Bank report, housing affordability dropped 3.3 percent in the September quarter, following a five percent drop in the June quarter.
HIA senior economist Ben Phillips said the outlook for affordability is “not a good one.”
On a state breakdown, Victoria experienced the worst drop, with housing affordability sinking 9.3 percent. This was followed by New South Wales with 5.5 percent.
In Western Australia, housing affordability fell by 3.9 percent, while in Tasmania it fell by 5.1 percent. In the ACT, it improved 3.8 percent, as it did in Adelaide, where it increased by 2.2 percent.
Phillips said if we don’t succeed in significantly lifting the level of new home building over the next few years then there is “a very real risk that we will return to the woeful affordability levels of 2007 and 2008.”
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