Australian Property News

How women drove house price growth

Posted on Friday, June 29 2012 at 2:28 PM

Housing is as affordable now as it has ever been in relation to our salaries, according to a KPMG study commissioned by Commonwealth Bank to celebrate its centenary.

Housing is as affordable now as it has ever been in relation to our salaries, according to a KPMG study commissioned by Commonwealth Bank to celebrate its centenary.

The finding is one of four key themes contained in the report, which examined the changing nature of home ownership in Australia since 1946 when home loans were first introduced.

When looking at the average cost of a family home compared to our salaries, it appears property is just as affordable in 2012 as it was more than 60 years ago.

In 1950 the average cost of a house was roughly seven times the average yearly income. Today it’s slightly less at 6.9 per cent.

“It can no longer be said that house prices have become disproportionate to salaries,” the report says. “Rather they have stayed on par with previous generations.”

The role of women in home ownership was also examined. When legislation began to change in the 1960s and 1970s and women were able to pursue a career, it had a major effect on housing, the study found.

“The introduction of female breadwinners has increased household incomes and that in turn has increased the value of the typical suburban home.

“In other words, it’s this social change that has been a major driver of price growth in housing – women returning to the work force has made us all richer and has enabled the average household to pay more for housing costs.”

The study also found the backyard has become an endangered species, shrinking significantly in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney since 1950.

Brisbane is the only capital city where average block sizes have risen in the past 60 years.

Changing block sizes don’t mean houses are getting smaller – quite the opposite. In 1971 only 13 per cent of detached homes had four bedrooms, but by 2008 that figure had risen to 36 per cent.

It’s not just the size of homes that’s increasing, but the number of people buying property.

The number of housing loans accepted by lenders between 1980 and 1989 was 2.9 million compared with a staggering 6.4 million between 2000 and 2009.

“Even taking population growth into account, there has been a significant growth and this growth has come from ‘everyday Australians’.”