Housing affordability falls in Wodonga
Housing affordability has fallen by 39% in Wodonga since 2001, according to a report released by the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
The report compared housing prices, mortgage payments and median combined household incomes across Australia to calculate housing affordability rates.
In 2001, a house in Wodonga cost 2.3 times the average household income; in 2006, 3.8 average household incomes were needed to buy the same house.
This means that only 56 % of average households can now afford to buy a house in their local area, compared to 95% in 2001.
The UDIA describes this decline as "striking", and the results of their review as "alarming", concluding that:
Affordability in Australia is generally at its worst level within the history for which data has been available.
The new report calls for federal policies and funding to help states and local government finance housing infrastructure, and policies to tackle the shortage of skilled workers.
“These figures explain why rising interest rates have a bigger impact on families today than they did in the nineties,” Zuvele Leschen, the ALP candidate for Indi said.
“In the nineties the gap between household income and housing costs were not so high. This meant that people borrowed less and could commit less of their weekly income to mortgage repayments.”
“Kevin Rudd, on the other hand, has convened a National Housing Affordability Summit, and announced a range of policies designed to tackle the problem.”
“These include a $500 million fund to tackle the undersupply of new residential housing, research into land supply and rates of construction, the formation of a Statutory authority to oversee infrastructure development, and the creation of a ministerial portfolio responsible for housing policy.”
The report compared housing prices, mortgage payments and median combined household incomes across Australia to calculate housing affordability rates.
In 2001, a house in Wodonga cost 2.3 times the average household income; in 2006, 3.8 average household incomes were needed to buy the same house.
This means that only 56 % of average households can now afford to buy a house in their local area, compared to 95% in 2001.
The UDIA describes this decline as "striking", and the results of their review as "alarming", concluding that:
Affordability in Australia is generally at its worst level within the history for which data has been available.
The new report calls for federal policies and funding to help states and local government finance housing infrastructure, and policies to tackle the shortage of skilled workers.
“These figures explain why rising interest rates have a bigger impact on families today than they did in the nineties,” Zuvele Leschen, the ALP candidate for Indi said.
“In the nineties the gap between household income and housing costs were not so high. This meant that people borrowed less and could commit less of their weekly income to mortgage repayments.”
“Kevin Rudd, on the other hand, has convened a National Housing Affordability Summit, and announced a range of policies designed to tackle the problem.”
“These include a $500 million fund to tackle the undersupply of new residential housing, research into land supply and rates of construction, the formation of a Statutory authority to oversee infrastructure development, and the creation of a ministerial portfolio responsible for housing policy.”
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posted by Greg Naylor at
3:40 PM
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