Sydney housing crisis
Despite John McGrath stating that in January the market cycle was either near to, or at the bottom of the downturn and therefore a good time to buy, this is arguably a relative statement. For example, an article in the Herald writes that house deposits are still many tens of thousands of dollars higher than they were 3 years ago due to rising mortgage rates, and that the median house price is $330k higher. In addition, Institute Australia (amongst others) writes that according to RBA data, real wages (wages adjusted for inflation) in 2023 will effectively be where they were in 2008. Ie they’ve gone down whilst housing prices have sky rocketed.
On the flipside, if you are not ready (or not interested) in purchasing, an article in the Real Estate conversation writes that the number of rental vacancies available continues to fall, and are now at their lowest number since 2013, even taking into account the fact the Sydney population is over 1.5 million people more. As has been written many times, property development and especially lower cost and/or social housing are falling further and further behind.
Meanwhile, demographic shifts are also impacting the Sydney real estate market. The latest census data revealed that the city’s wealth is wildly outside the Australian norm, with inner Sydney being one of the wealthiest regions in the country. This has led to a mismatch in demand and supply, with many singles and lower-income households struggling to find affordable housing in the city. One particular suburb not commonly associated with singles, was identified as having the highest percentage of singles in the city, highlighting the changing demographics and resulting impact on the real estate market.
