RENTING in Canberra remains as affordable as ever, according to the latest statistics from the Real Estate Institute of Australia.

The housing affordability report for the June quarter has shown the proportion of income required to meet rent payments is at 16.72 per cent, well below the national average of 24.8 per cent.

And affordability hasn’t significantly changed in the past five years – in 2006 the proportion of rent to salary was 15.9 per cent.

Long-term renting to retain a better standard of living is proving to be a growing trend in Australia and it appears no different in Canberra.

Sean Patterson, 31, is a sales manager at Melrose Peugeot and has rented a four bedroom, three bathroom home in O’Connor for the past eight years and loves it.

“I’ve been there for a long time. It’s even more affordable because I’ve been able to negotiate my rent,” he said.

“If you spend $350,000 – you can’t get anything for that.

“And if I was to buy, it would be out in the sticks or a shoe box.

“Do I want to buy a house for half a million dollars out in the sticks or a two-bedroom apartment in the city?

“I’m happy to stay in a house in the city and rent.”

Sean says he does feel the pressure to enter the real estate market from family and friends, but finds renting suitable to his lifestyle without the “mortgage stress”.

“I like to travel a bit, go out in the city, while I save a huge percentage of my income,” he said.

However REIA CEO Amanda Lynch urges first-home buyers not to follow the same path.

“We encourage all first-home buyers to get a foot in the door,” she said.

“It doesn’t have to be your dream property, because you can always work your way up.

“We have noticed people are finding it harder and harder to break into the market.”

Ms Lynch says that despite what is happening to economies overseas, in Australia, now is a good time to enter the market.

“There’s been 10 months straight of the cash rate staying the same,” she said.

“It’s a very positive climate. You can understand the hesitation, but Australia is in a different scenario.

“We have a strong population growth, a baby boom, financially we are strong and unemployment is low.

“It’s very positive.”

Ms Lynch said REIA is currently working on ways to help first-home buyers enter the market.

Most recently, the organisation asked the Government to boost the first-home buyers grant and release superannuation funds to help with home deposits.

REIA will also attend the Tax Forum in October, which it hopes to use as an opportunity to discuss the removal of stamp duty.

According to the housing affordability report, the ACT remains the most affordable State or Territory to live in Australia.

Proportion of income for home-loan repayments remains well below the national average of 34.6 per cent with the ACT recording 18.8 per cent. This is in comparison to 2006, when the percentage was 14.3 per cent.
The housing affordability report also shows that the ACT recorded the biggest increase in new loans to first-home buyers, increasing 25.6 per cent to 407 and the biggest increase in the total number of new loans, increasing 17.7 per cent to 2217 over the quarter.