House prices have increased by almost 25 per cent over the past five years, according to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The median dwelling price across Australia was recorded by the ABS at $404,000, which has risen from $325,000 from the census prior, which indicates total growth over the period of 24.3 per cent.
“It is worth noting that a family’s income, housing loan repayments and rental payments all increased by a greater amount than median home prices over the period,” RP Data analyst Cameron Kusher said.
A comparison of the current median price of a home to the median family income shows that the typical home is 5.2 times more expensive, down from 5.3 times five years ago.
In comparison to household income, median home prices are 6.3 times more expensive, up from 6.1 times five years ago.
“Either way you look at the results, there are significant differences from other more regular measures,” Mr Kusher said.
The ‘dwelling-type’ data shows that separate houses now account for 75.6 per cent of all homes across the country, down from 76.6 per cent for the previous Census. In comparison, semi-detached homes account for 9.9 per cent of the housing stock and units account for 13.6 per cent.
The proportion of semi-detached homes and units increased since last Census while the proportion of separate houses decreased.
“Overall the results highlight that more affordable housing options such as higher density housing types are growing in popularity,” said Mr Kusher.
Household tenure data (that is ownership) from the latest Census shows that there has been a decline in the number of homes fully owned with 32.1 per cent of households completely owned by the person living there in 2011, down from 34.0 per cent on last Census results.
The proportion of households which were being purchased (mortgaged) rose from 34.1 per cent in the previous Census to 34.9 per cent and the number of households being rented increased from 28.1 per cent to 29.6 per cent.
According to Mr Kusher, these results highlight that levels of home ownership are falling and are most likely linked to a shortage of supply of houses at affordable price points in many regions of the country.