Big bucks needed to buy property Down Under

Buying a property in Australia today is not for the faint hearted or for those residents who struggle to make ends meet financially according to an up to date affordability study.

Residential real estate prices were monitored in more than 300 cities throughout Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States of America and the United Kingdom – Australia was placed second only to Hong Kong for the least affordable place to own property.

Statistics from the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey show the average priced Australian property cost around 6.7 times the average household income – in Hong Kong it is a massive 12.5 times average income.

Property in Sydney remains the most unaffordable considering all other metropolitan centres across the country – at 9.2 times average household income.

While many experts agree that house prices in Australia are overvalued a shortage of land in major cities will keep prices and demand high.