Explore the data: How much you need to earn to buy in every SA suburb

Looking to buy a property in SA in 2022? New research shows just how much your wage would need to be to buy in every SA suburb. Explore the data.

Looking to buy a property in SA in 2022?

New research by CoreLogic and Finder.com.au shows just how much hopeful homebuyers would need to earn annually to purchase in each of Adelaide’s suburbs.

Highlighting the growing issue of housing affordability, of the 409 SA suburbs featured in the report, 298 were out of reach of single buyers earning SA’s average salary of $75,877 or less.

According to the data, required earnings are based on a 30-year, 20 per cent-deposit loan with an average owner-occupier variable discounted interest rate of 3.45 per cent.

The report assumed 30 per cent of the wage was spent on the mortgage and that buyers were being taxed as an individual.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said housing costs had grown annually at double the rate of wage increases over the past 10 years and a typical Aussie home was now close to eight times annual median household income.

“The gap between income and prices has never been this large,” Mr Lawless said.

“There will be a lot of focus on housing affordability politically this year (due to the election) but there is no silver bullet in terms of a solution.”

Unley Park houses require the biggest wages. The suburb’s median price is almost $1.972m, making the annual pre-tax income required to buy into the suburb $378,945.

Finder’s senior editor of money Sarah Megginson said the economic environment had prompted many people to buy beyond their means.

“Interest rates are at an all-time low, but they’ll need to rise at some point, and unfortunately this means some Aussies are at risk of defaulting on their home loans,” she said.

Looking at Adelaide’s metro area, Salisbury units offer the most affordable buying, requiring an annual income of $35,320.

SA’s mid-north offered the most affordable buying outside Adelaide’s metro area, with buyers hoping to purchase in Port Pirie West needing an annual income of just $19,370 to buy a $124,334 house.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia CEO Barry Money said it was getting increasingly difficult for first-home buyers to enter the market.

“We know that first home buyers financing commitments spiked during the period when government incentives were available, so more first home buyers were getting into the market, but fell sharply when the incentives ended,” he said.

“This relegates first home buyers to the back of the queue again.”

Apprentice electrician Hannah Greenfield outside the home she’s recently bought through HomeStart Finance at Salisbury North. Pic Roy Van Der Vegt

Apprentice electrician Hannah Greenfield, 23, has recently bought her own home in Salisbury North through HomeStart Finance and said it was the fulfilment of a four-year dream.

“It was pretty hard to get into the market and it’s fairly nerve-racking when prices keep going up,” Ms Greenfield says.