Where Sydney’s essential workers on average wages cannot afford to live

Essential frontline workers are now locked out of much of greater Sydney with mortgage repayments consuming between 50 to 100 per cent of the average $120,000 pay packet.

Exclusive: Essential frontline workers are now locked out of much of greater Sydney with mortgage repayments consuming between 50 to 100 per cent of the average $120,000 pay packet.

And the only remaining suburbs where the median priced unit is affordable for a household on the same income are in isolated pockets of Western Sydney and the Sutherland Shire, according to the findings of a Property Council NSW report.

While wages for some essential workers have increased under the Minns government, the council said salary increases alone will not fix the problem alone.

Instead it is calling for urgent tax and compliance cost cuts, reducing approval times by at least six months, rezoning areas near transport and incentives for the creation of essential worker housing.

The council warns that if existing policies governing housing supply are not overhauled, home ownership would be restricted to “an elite group of wealthy Australians” with the rest “consigned to the rental market”.

ICU nurse Sophie Foubister, from Hornsby, lives with her parents and considering moving to South Australia in order to establish a home with her partner. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Called Beyond Reach, the report analyses the median incomes of essential workers and housing costs in 2024.

Property Council NSW executive director Katie Stevenson said the research painted a “dramatic and depressing picture” of the current housing crisis with many workers now facing housing costs significantly more than 30 per cent of household income.

Much of Sydney was now a “no go zone” for essential workers and their families.

“Recent reforms can help us in the long-term, but we are in a crisis now, and that requires creative solutions to build many more homes, faster,” Ms Stevenson said.

“To get more housing moving faster we need more streamlined planning processes, we need to explore more innovative delivery models, and we need a holistic review of the taxes, charges, and compliance costs holding back development, with a focus on reducing these to unlock supply.”

The council is also calling on the Minns government to accelerate the release of surplus or under-utilised publicly owned land for residential development, explore more flexible and innovative financing for affordable housing and commit to a moratorium on new development charges.

Using data from Pricefinder and CoreLogic, the report examined the affordability of new and established homes and apartments across the 12 local government areas (LGAs) of Inner Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Liverpool, Kogarah, Randwick, Hornsby, Manly, Box Hill as well as Newcastle, Wollongong and Gosford.

Unless the crisis was tackled soon, NSW risked losing more essential workers to other states where housing was more affordable, it said.

Sydney nurses Georgia Palaster and Sophie Foubister are both living at home with their parents.

Ms Foubister, 23, said she and her partner were thinking of moving to South Australia.

“I love nursing, and would hate to leave. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Ms Palaster, also 23, said she and her partner would also probably have to move out of Sydney in the future.

“It’s a touchy subject. All we know to do is to save because it’s impossible to look at loans,” she said.
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