IT’S getting harder to argue that Australia’s biggest challenge right now isn’t housing.
What began as a property boom has evolved into a two-decade-long crisis – one where the family home is treated less as a basic right and more as a financial strategy.
For a generation of renters, it’s been a frustrating wait on the sidelines, while for others, the property surge has created some of the wealthiest Australians on record.
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock this month announced that interest rates woud remain unchanged at 3.6 per cent. The decision came alongside data showing total household wealth rose 2.7 per cent, or $470.1 billion, in the June quarter of 2025, largely driven by surging property and land values.
But while household wealth grows on paper, home ownership drifts further out of reach.
Today, it takes the average buyer more than a decade to save for a median-priced home, now well above $1 million in many parts of Australia.
This assumes a first-home buyer earning around $100,000 a year and saving 15 per cent of their income annually.
In simple terms, a family with an average combined income that could afford to buy 20 years ago is now far more likely to rent for the long term.
“It’s a very, very difficult situation… I don’t actually think that most reasonable people think this is a good outcome,” Ms Bullock said.
She described the problem as a “structural deficit of supply”, meaning demand continues to outstrip availability.
