LATEST NEWS

ACT remains most affordable city

Released 06/03/2008

089/08 6 March 2008

The ACT remains the most affordable capital city in Australia to live in according to new data released by the Real Estate institute of Australia.

The Real Estate Institute Home Loan Affordability Indicator for the ACT was 47.3, while the national Indicator was 26.7. The Home Loan Affordability Indicator is calculated as the ratio of family income to average loan payments where an increase in the indicator denotes an improvement in affordability.

In the December quarter 2007, the average home loan in the ACT was financed by 21.1 per cent of the average family income – well below the national average of 37.4 per cent.

New South Wales was the least affordable state to live in with 39.8 percent of the average family income required to service the average loan, Queensland the second most expensive (38.7%), followed by Victoria (36.2%), South Australia (35.7%), Western Australia (33.5%), Tasmania (33.5%), and the Northern Territory (26.1%).

“It is generally accepted that housing stress occurs when more than 30 per cent of the gross family income is required to pay for housing,” Mr Stanhope said.

“While the ACT remains an affordable place to live, the ACT Government recognises that the price of housing is increasing across the country, including the ACT and that there are many Canberrans experiencing housing stress. This is why in April last year the Government released its Affordable Housing Action Plan to tackle the rising prices of housing in the ACT.

To date the ACT Government has already delivered many of the commitments contained in the Plan including:

· increasing the supply of affordable land to the market;

· streamlining land release and planning approval systems;

· providing new house and land packages priced between $200,000 and $300,000;

· introducing an Excellence in Housing Affordability Award;

· providing a $50 million loan facility to Community Housing Canberra to help increase community housing stock;

· making more effective and targeted use of public housing; and

· providing for delayed settlement on land and deferral of stamp duty.

The Government will shortly approach the market for proposals for institutional investment in rental accommodation, and the land rent scheme is set to come online in the next few months.

Statement Ends

Media Contact: Penelope Layland 6205 9777 0438 289 714 penelope.layland@act.gov.au