Aspiring home buyers will need to earn almost twice as much as they did at the start of the Covid pandemic to afford a house or a unit in most Aussie cities, a new study has revealed.
A Canstar’s analysis has exposed the minimum annual household income needed to avoid mortgage stress when purchasing a home, with the staggering figures eclipsing the amount most people earn.
While the data didn’t consider stamp duty or any other concessions that may be available to buyers, it did take into account RBA’s lending rate for new customers: 2.93 per cent in May 2020, and 5.75 per cent in May 2025 – based on the most recent figure available at the end of March 2025, with a 0.25 percentage point cut applied.
Here’s what the data revealed about your state.
QUEENSLAND
Queenslanders need to earn around $100,000 more a year to afford a typical home than before the pandemic boom.
The staggering pay rise places Brisbane just behind Sydney in terms of the extra income required per household since Covid-19.
Canstar’s analysis shows an income of $171,862 was needed for a median-priced house in Greater Brisbane in May 2025, compared to $72,628 in March 2020 — a $99,234 increase.
For units, $120,490 was required today, up from $52,164 pre-pandemic.
At a suburb level, Canstar’s research revealed nearly 50 Queensland locations where the difference in household income had ballooned by $200,000 or more.
Coastal and inner-city hotspots led, with buyers in Surfers Paradise needing a whopping $481,122 more per household.
Minyama, Sunshine Coast would require an income boost of $481,122, and $310,417 to buy in New Farm, Brisbane.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
New house price predictions put the median price in Brisbane past the $1m mark by 2030, with units expected to be a more affordable entry choice for most new buyers then. Picture: Sophie Foster,
VICTORIA
Much like Queensland, the average Melbourne buyer will need nearly $100,000 extra a year to afford the same home they could have bought in 2020.
The figures show a typical household in greater Melbourne must now earn almost $160,000 to afford a median-priced house – a $61,000 increase since 2020.
In blue-chip areas like Toorak, Brighton and Malvern, the income jump is even more dramatic.
Even assuming a 20 per cent deposit, buyers now need to earn hundreds of thousands more.
In Toorak, where the median house price is $3.85m, households must earn over $900,000 a year, $290,000 more than in 2020.
In Brighton East, that figure is $490,000, up by more than $200,000.
Malvern buyers now need over $700,000, compared to just over $500,000 in 2020.
Even once-accessible areas like Ferntree Gully have seen a $66,000 jump in required income, pushing the new threshold above$162,000.
In Melbourne’s middle ring, affordability is also slipping.
Households now need nearly $280,000 in Bentleigh East, close to $260,000 in Box Hill South, and more than $312,000 in Glen Waverley.
![Supplied Real Estate Source: Canstar](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1380 603"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
NEW SOUTH WALES
Home seekers wanting an average Sydney house will need to have boosted their income by $150,000 a year just to have kept pace with the incredible property price rises since Covid.
With Sydney’s median price at about $950,000 in 2020, Canstar indicated that buying a typical house was affordable for a couple or individual back then with a pre-tax income of about $145,000 a year.
However, cracking the house market in north shore suburbs Crows Nest and Lane Cove now requires a yearly income of roughly $300,000 higher than in 2020, while in many Harbour-suburbs the difference is $500,000.
This was for buyers with a standard loan rate and 20 per cent deposit who wanted to avoid “mortgage stress” – spending more than a third of their gross income on loan repayments.
Luxe areas Bellevue Hill and Dover Heights led the nation for the biggest changes since Covid, with the income needed to afford a median house up $883,000 in the former and $720,000 in the latter.
Even apartments in suburbs known as more affordable Sydney enclaves demanded wage rises that few Sydneysiders could match.
Buyers needed to earn about $30,000-$50,000 more per year than they did in 2020 to afford units in Penrith, Parramatta, Punchbowl, Seven Hills, Toongabbie and many others.
Home buyers looking to buy in Toorak now need almost double the income they did five years ago.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Things aren’t looking up in South Australia, where the average home buyers now needs an income of $154,484 to afford a house – $90,020 more than five years ago.
Meanwhile, those in the market for a unit will need an income of at least $106,480 – $62,341 more than what buyers would have paid in 2020.
The situation gets even worse in Adelaide’s more affluent suburbs, including Unley Park, Medindie, Glenelg, St Peters, Tusmore, where buyers need to earn over $200,000 more than in 2020 to crack the middle of the market.
Homes are becoming near impossible to afford for the next generation of buyers, including Adelaide University Law student Grace Hullah. Picture Mark Brake
TASMANIA
In just five years, the income needed to pay the mortgage on a typical Hobart house has doubled.
And in some suburbs, a six-figure increase is required just to keep pace with rising costs.
Following the most recent property market boom, and peak of 2021, Hobart and Tasmania recorded a number of years when prices were flat or decreasing. But this was not enough to offset the difference in income required to buy a median-value house.
In 2020, the minimum gross annual household income required to buy greater Hobart’s median value home ($505,000) was $67,546.
Today that figure has surged to $131,698.
In greater Hobart, the smallest difference between 2020 and 2025 requirements was houses in Chigwell, where $39,786 extra income was needed.
The next smallest difference in income was Gagebrook ($41,088), Bridgewater ($41,676), Risdon Vale ($45,338) and New Norfolk ($46,875).
The largest difference was in Sandy Bay, a $119,922 increase, followed by Richmond (107,548), Tranmere ($107,258), Sandford ($87,851), and Taroona ($80,112).
NORTHERN TERRITORY
If you were hoping to find a bargain in the NT, you’re sure to be disappointed.
Even Australia’s most northern state has seen a massive jump in house prices, with the average salary needed to afford a house eclipsing $106,000 – almost $47,000 more than five years ago.
Units may prove a more affordable option.
According to Canstar, the average income needed to afford a unit is Darwin is $68,185 – with homebuyers now needing to make $28,059 more than they did in 2020.
No responses yet