Worst housing affordability ever condemned as ‘damning reflection’ on policy

The dire state of housing affordability in Australia has been laid bare in a new report showing that the share of homes that typical Australians could afford has sunk to its lowest level ever.The latest realestate.com.au Housing Affordability Report has revealed the extremely challenging situation facing home buyers in Australia resulting from high interest rates and property prices, with affordability falling to a record low.The decline in property prices since a peak in March this year did little to improve the situation for buyers, with the hit to borrowing capacities from this year’s three rate rises outweighing the effect of slightly cheaper prices, the report found.A household on a typical income could afford to buy just 12% of the homes sold across the country last financial year, according to the report.This was the lowest level on record, falling below the previous low of 14% recorded in the 2007-08 financial year and plummeting from just five years ago, when record-low mortgage rates in FY21 allowed a median-income household to afford 43% of homes sold.South Australia has the worst housing affordability of all the states, according to a new report. Picture: realestate.com...