Housing affordability increase continues
The cyclical improvement in housing affordability continued in the June 2013 quarter, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
The HIA-Commonwealth Bank Housing Affordability Index increased by 4.4 per cent in the June 2013 quarter to a level of 72.8.
Housing affordability across Australia is now 16.7 per cent higher than in mid-2012.
HIA chief economist Dr Harley Dale said the results were encouraging for those entering the market at this time in the cycle.
"The considerable reduction in interest rates is more than offsetting recent dwelling price increases," said Dr Dale. "Current improvements in housing affordability do not represent structural shifts in Australia's affordability; rather, they represent the dominant impact of cyclical changes in lending rates, which will of course be prone to reversal at some point."
In the June 2013 quarter the HIA-CBA Housing Affordability Index increased in all seven capital cities reported.
The strongest quarterly increase occurred in Brisbane with a rise of 10.4 per cent, followed by Hobart (10.0 per cent), Adelaide (7.7 per cent), Canberra and Perth (4.1 per cent), Sydney (3.3 per cent), and Melbourne (2.2 per cent).