The average first home buyer has to wait for 4.9 years to save for a 20% deposit, an increase from the 4.5 year wait of in 2011.
These figures come from the 2016 Bankwest First Time Buyers Deposit Report which compares local incomes to house prices. It examines how long FHBs in different capital cities have to wait to save the 20% deposit needed to avoid costly lenders mortgage insurance.
First home buyers in Sydney suffered the longest wait, spending 8.4 years to save the necessary amount. This was an increase from the 7.9 year period required last year and was far ahead of the 5.8 years required back in 2011.
For Melbourne, the time required again increased from 5.4 years in 2011 to 5.8 years last year and onto 6.2 years this year.
In fact, figures in all capital cities except for Perth and Darwin have been rising since 2011, creating difficulty for most first home buyers when securing their first property.
“Low interest rates, sluggish wage growth, and rising house prices are making it increasingly difficult for first time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder in most capital cities in Australia,” said Andrew Whitechurch, Bankwest’s executive general manager of retail.
“We’ve seen extremely strong growth in property values in Sydney and Melbourne, while wages have grown by just 2.2 per cent nationally.”
These financial challenges have seen the number of first home buyers in the market decrease dramatically. In 2016, FHBs made up of 13.4% total buyers which was half that found in 2009.
