06 July 2010
Housing affordability has continued to worsen over the past year, with first home buyers needing 4.5 years to save for a house deposit, up from 3.7 years.
The second annual Bankwest "First Time Home Buyer Report" also found thousands of young Australians have been forced to rent or live at home with their parents for an extra 10 months as they struggle to pull together a house deposit.
The research shows a first time buyer couple needs to raise an $85,800 deposit to purchase the median house, and $76,900 to buy a median unit.
There are 26 Local Government Areas (LGAs) - in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth - where it would take a first home buyer couple on average earnings more than a decade to save a house deposit.
Bankwest Retail Chief Executive, Vittoria Shortt said this was the stark reality of a strong Australian property sector.
"Increasingly we are seeing an entrenched two-speed market emerging with property owners on one side and a growing army of first home buyers seemingly locked out on the other," Ms Shortt said.
Ms Shortt said first time buyers needed on average four-and-a-half-years to get together a conservative 20 per cent house deposit. This drops to four years for first time unit buyers.
Download a copy of the full report and a breakdown on each state below:
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