Looming decision next week could wipe out benefits of falling home prices

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced policies to level the playing field for first-home buyers, but so far affordability has got worse. Picture: Martin Ollman Federal government promises to “level the playing field” for home buyers are looking more threadbare by the month: even with prices falling, buying a home has become harder. And now it’s not just singles being frozen out but ordinary couples too, new analysis of median prices and interest rates has revealed. The figures from Compare the Market paint a bruising picture of a housing market where lower prices haven’t delivered relief, because bigger mortgages and rate hikes have swallowed any benefit. Couples on typical salaries were now only able to afford a median-priced property in just 38.61 per cent of suburbs nationally over September, according to the Compare the Market study. If RBA governor Michele Bullock announces another rate hike, it could freeze couples on $135,000 out of the market. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire This was down sharply from 53.63 percent of suburbs a year earlier. Couples on a combined income of about $135,000 a year, the median household income in some areas, could afford a home in only 5 per...