Agree that the next 5 years will be a telling time worldwide. Many economists are tipping heavy downturn, with people who have over mortgaged falling on the sword of increased interest rates and falling asset values. Time will tell.
Bread price link:
https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/whatitcost/groceries .
Interest rate link:
Mortgage Rate in Australia increased to 6.08 percent in September from 6.06 percent in August of 2024. This page includes a chart with historical data for Australia Mortgage Rate.
tradingeconomics.com
Apologies, that was Sydney pricing. You’re right in saying national capital city house average is $928,812.
https://propertyupdate.com.au/the-latest-median-property-prices-in-australias-major-cities/
I’m in Adelaide too, and built 5 years ago with a 5% deposit first home buyer scheme that my (now) wife and I saved up over a number of years while renting a unit. I paid $390k for the house, and since that time the median price in this suburb has gone up 55.79%, putting it’s value over $600k.
My point isn’t that you can’t find cheaper options for bread, interest rates or housing prices. Various options exist as they always did. I worked off of averages to try to demonstrate, that for the average person it is harder now than it was back then.
Let’s use your 1989 example and SA specifically. Wages are South Australia specific, adult full time ordinary hours from ‘Nov 89 & May ‘22. (Apples & apples).
Average house price 1989 SA= $92K
Average mortgage rate= 17%
Weekly mortgage payment= $305
Average weekly full time wage= $516.6
Mortgage % of income = 59.0%
Average house price today= $750k
Average mortgage rate= 6.06%
Weekly mortgage payment= $1046
Average weekly wage= $1622.9 per week
Mortgage % of income = 64.4%
It’s pretty tight, but even with your very specific example of SA and 1989, for full time workers your mortgage is still a 5% bigger chunk of your income in 2022. Also worth noting that full time employment has been decreasing as industries favour part time and gig style working.
In 1989 79.1% of workers were full time.
In Jan 2021 68.8% of workers were full time.
Those without full time employment (then and now) are pretty unlikely to get into the market.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying people in 1989 had it easy, but the mortgage rates, even in the most extreme years, do not counteract the ludicrous inflation of the property market.
If you talk to anyone under the age of, say, 50, I don’t think you’d get much of an argument that Australian house prices are completely out of control.
www.savings.com.au
Estimates of weekly earnings classified by industry, sector, state and territory
www.abs.gov.au
www.abs.gov.au