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Canberra Today 22°/26° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

‘Affordable’ market cruels first buyers

REIA CEO Amanda Lynch
REIA CEO Amanda Lynch.
LOANS to first-home buyers have slumped despite the ACT remaining the most affordable State or Territory to own a home, according to the latest housing affordability report from the Real Estate Institute of Australia.

For the past five years, the ACT has held the top spot, with the March quarter recording the proportion of income to meet home loan repayments increase 0.1 per cent to 18.6 per cent.

However, new loans to first-home buyers in the March quarter in the ACT recorded the nation’s biggest slump of 25.5 per cent.

REIA CEO Amanda Lynch said the ACT remains the country’s most affordable place to own a home because average income in the Territory is higher.

“This does not mean that buying a home is affordable for all first-home buyers,” Ms Lynch said.

“The number of loans to first-home buyers decreased in all States and Territories over the quarter, except for the NT.”
The ACT also recorded the biggest decline in the total number of new loans this quarter – a decrease of 21.2 per cent to 1833.

In the past year, the total number of loans declined 8.7 per cent.

However, ACT and Victoria were the places to record an increase in the average loan size this quarter – an increase of 1.2 per cent to $296,180.

In the past year, the increase of average loan size was 0.04 per cent.

NSW remains the least affordable State or territory to live – a position it has held for the past 15 years.

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