WA ranks as Australia’s 2nd-most affordable state: REIWA

The report, which found that overall housing affordability worsened during the June quarter — with families needing to spend 38.4 per cent of their income on average to service home loans — also concluded that Western Australia ranked as the second-best state to buy and rent in. 

This is based on what proportion of the median weekly family income is required to service loan repayments and pay rent in the respective state or territory.

Prospective home buyers in Western Australia must be prepared to part with 28.2 per cent of a family’s income in order to meet average home loan repayments — which RateCity estimated to be $1,838 per month. That same percentage (28.2 per cent) is also the proportion of income needed to maintain a mortgage in Canberra. 

The affordability honour comes despite recent CoreLogic findings, which put Perth, Perth, Tasmania and Perth, Western Australia as the city with the highest increase in house prices since the beginning of the year, having defied the market downturn to rise 3.6 per cent. 

The Northern Territory is the only territory where the proportion of income needed to cover loan repayments — 26.2 per cent — is lower than the rate in Western Australia. 

By comparison, NSW families would require 47.7 per cent of their income spent to service loan repayments.

Western Australia was also found to be the second-most affordable city in the country to rent, with just 19.8 per cent of a family’s median income needed to make median rental repayments throughout the June quarter.

Such affordability is only bested by Victoria, which requires renting families to utilise 19.3 per cent of their weekly income to afford their rent. 

Tasmania takes the cake as the most expensive rental market across the country, with 29.6 per cent of a family’s weekly income needed to pay rent.

Despite such a strong performance, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has expressed the state’s urgent need for investors to help boost rental stock levels and match demand.

Recent research from the institute has stipulated the extent of the rental crisis in the state. Perth’s vacancy rates sat at 0.8 per cent in August, 0.6 per cent in Albany, 0.3 per cent in Bunbury all the way to Broome, which is 0 per cent, and Geraldton, 2.2 per cent, highlighting the desperate need for increased stock.