Overview
- Domain’s 2026 First Home Buyer Report says affordability worsened over the past year despite 2025 rate cuts, with repayments on an entry‑level house now averaging 48.9% of a couple’s income across capitals.
- Entry‑level house prices have far outpaced wages over five years, rising 68% nationally, with extreme gains in Adelaide (159.2%), Brisbane (106.3%) and Perth (105.8%).
- Sydney remains the most expensive city for houses at about $1.15 million, requiring roughly 7.7 years to save a 20% deposit, and modelling shows repayments of 61.8% of income that many lenders would not service.
- Brisbane has overtaken Sydney as the toughest unit market for first‑home buyers, with an entry price of about $660,000 versus $645,000 in Sydney and a saving timeline of four years and 11 months.
- Units are no longer a reliable affordability valve in several capitals, Darwin offers the shortest overall saving times (about 2.7 years for a unit), and agents report heavier reliance on parental assistance as schemes like the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy offer narrow, demand‑side relief.