BRISBANE homeowners now use less of their income on monthly mortgage repayments, according to a key measure of housing affordability.
The stabilisation of real estate prices and falling interest rates have helped reduce the mortgage burden, according to the latest Moody’s Housing Affordability Measure.
A two-income Brisbane family now needs on average 23.4 per cent of their income for monthly home loan repayments, down from 24.4 per cent a year ago.
The Sydney and Melbourne mortgage belts, meanwhile, faced falling affordability as property prices continued to rise in those cities.
It takes 35.1 per cent of a Sydney household’s income to repay a loan, from 32.8 per cent a year ago, while in Melbourne the figure is 28.2 per cent, from 27.5 per cent in March 2014.
Housing affordability in Brisbane has been helped by flat housing prices and a 1.5 per cent increase in weekly incomes over the year.
That was slightly higher than the average 1.3 per cent gain in incomes across Australia.
Moody’s analyst Natsumi Matsuda said only Adelaide (22.1 per cent of income required to pay off a mortgage) and Perth (21.9 per cent) remained more affordable than Brisbane.
“Median house prices rose about 5 per cent in Brisbane over the year but that compares with a 12 per cent increase in Sydney,” she said.
“At the same time, incomes increased in Brisbane.”
Ms Matsuda said yesterday the downturn in the mining services and resources sector was a contributing factor to the softness in Queensland housing prices.
“Queensland and Western Australia are the states more exposed to the resources sector,” she said.
“Median dwelling prices in Perth, where the economy is exposed to significant declines in prices for key commodities such as iron ore, declined by 4.8 per cent.”
Nationally, the affordability of home units improved slightly in the period.
Story by Glen Norris