Data Source & Methodology

Affordability Tiers

Results are categorised using the internationally recognised affordability tiers developed by the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, which has benchmarked housing markets across eight countries since 2005. The Demographia “Median Multiple” framework has been endorsed by the World Bank and the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development, and is used by the Harvard University Joint Center on Housing.

These tiers were originally designed to compare affordability across whole metropolitan areas (e.g. Sydney vs. Pittsburgh). Applying them at a suburb level is a reasonable adaptation, but it is worth noting that some premium suburbs will inherently sit at the upper end of the scale due to the nature of their housing stock and location, which is different from an entire city being unaffordable.

Historically, the price-to-income ratio sat at or below 3.0× across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States until the late 1980s to late 1990s, depending on the country (Reserve Bank of Australia; Demographia, 2024).

Property Price Data

Median house sale prices are sourced primarily from Landgate/REIWA, with supplementary data from realestate.com.au. Data was last updated 12 February 2026 and reflects settled transactions for the 12-month period ending January 2026.

• Houses only. This tool uses median house sale prices. Units, apartments, townhouses and vacant land are excluded.
• The median is not an average. It is the midpoint of all recorded house sales in a suburb over the period — half of sales were above this price, half were below.
• Rolling 12-month window. In a market that has moved significantly during the year, the median will include transactions from earlier in the period that may have settled at prices below (or above) current market levels. The median reflects historical settled sales, not current asking or selling prices.
• Low-volume suburbs. In suburbs with a small number of sales over the period, the median can be significantly influenced by individual transactions and may not be representative of the broader local market. Suburbs with fewer than 20 recorded sales in the period should be interpreted with caution.

What This Tool Does Not Measure

This tool measures structural affordability — how many years of gross household income the median house in a suburb costs. It is a useful starting point, but it does not capture the full picture of what it costs to buy and hold a property. Specifically:

• It is not a borrowing capacity assessment. Banks assess your ability to service a loan based on your net income, existing debts, living expenses, number of dependents and other commitments. A property may appear “affordable” on this tool but still be beyond your borrowing capacity, or vice versa. For reference, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) considers debt-to-income ratios of 6× or more to be high risk, and from February 2026 requires banks to limit lending at that level to 20% of new mortgage lending.
• It does not factor in interest rates. A 7× ratio at 5% interest is a very different proposition to a 3× ratio at 17% interest. This tool measures the price of the asset relative to income, not the cost of financing it. Banks also apply a 3 percentage point serviceability buffer above the current interest rate when assessing loan applications.
• It does not include the costs of purchasing or owning a property, such as stamp duty, lenders mortgage insurance, conveyancing fees, building and pest inspections, council rates, strata or body corporate fees, insurance, maintenance or renovations.
• It does not account for your deposit. The deposit you have saved (or don’t have) materially affects what you can purchase and the cost of your loan.
• It does not account for existing debt. If you carry existing debts such as a car loan, personal loan, HECS-HELP, credit card limits or buy-now-pay-later commitments, these reduce your borrowing capacity regardless of what this tool shows.