Sydney unit prices have risen from a median $67,300 in 1981 to $824,860 in 2021 - an increase from 4.3 times to 8.8 times average earnings.
Average full-time earnings are now $93,500 - 5.9 times what they were in 1981. However,Sydney house prices are 16.6 times higher and unit prices are 13.2 times higher.
Melbourne’s property market grew the most,with the median house price 21.9 times higher than in 1981 and the median unit price 17 times higher.
In 1981 in Brisbane it was cheaper to buy a house than a unit. Mr McCrindle said this was an anomaly caused by the fact that luxury apartments in the city were virtually the only units in Brisbane at the time.
Mr McCrindle said the same trends would also apply to the rental market.
“House prices are a proxy for rents so as the house prices go up,so do the rents,” he said. “The other thing with a property price growth market,like we currently have,is that you have people who have been happy as landlords just having their place rented out,suddenly selling because the prices are too good to be true,and this is creating some shortfalls.”
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Joel Pringle,the advocacy manager at the Benevolent Society working on the EveryAGE Counts campaign against ageism,said the insecurity and expense of the private rental market was a big cause of homelessness.
“High rents have a big impact on people who have had insecure housing over a long time,” Mr Pringle said. “Housing costs are a huge part of homelessness but also unexpected life events like relationship breakdown or losing a job.”
This was the case for Alexandra Samootin,78,who spent three months in a women’s refuge a bit over a decade ago and now lives in public housing in Dee Why.
Ms Samootin owned a family home in Mona Vale with her husband of 22 years but,after her divorce and unexpected legal problems,she was left bankrupt in later life.
“I still consider myself homeless because I’d never live in this type of unit,” she said. “I can’t have the grandkids here.”
Ms Samootin said she saved enough for a home deposit working as a secretary by the time she was married at 28,but she feels sorry for young people today who “would need to be on a terrifically high income” to do the same.
People over 55,especially women,were one of the fastest-growing groups of homeless people in the 2016 census,and people aged 55 to 64 are one of the biggest cohorts on unemployment benefits.
The EveryAGE Counts campaign is advocating for NSW to adopt the Home at Last program running in Victoria,which provides advice,support and advocacy for older people who are homeless or at risk.
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