Where you can buy in Melbourne with your income

SEARCH EVERY SUBURB. The percentage of houses and units you can nab on a high, medium or low income across the city.

Median-priced houses in every Melbourne suburb have become too expensive for a quarter of the population to buy, as booming property prices continue to outpace wage growth, new research reveals.

Property research firm CoreLogic has analysed data for 533 postcodes in Victoria’s capital to determine how much of the housing market can still be comfortably purchased by low, middle and high-income earners.

The proportion was small for low-income households bringing in $941 or less each week, which CoreLogic found could only secure a median-priced unit in 13 suburbs: Melton, Melton South, Junction Village, Darley, Lang Lang, Kurunjang, Melton West, Fingal, Bacchus Marsh, Wallan, Albion, Werribee and Whittlesea.

These suburbs are an average of 42.9 km from the CBD.

Tiny northern fringe town Waterford Park offered the highest proportion of affordable houses for low-income earners at 19 per cent.

A larger chunk of the Melbourne market was accessible for middle-income households earning $1743 per week.

They could afford 100 per cent of unit stock in 32 suburbs, any house in outer southeastern suburb Mambourin, and almost every house in Dallas, Waterford Park, Melton South and Kings Park.

And high-income households bringing in $2887 or more each week could comfortably buy 100 per cent of unit stock in 58 Melbourne suburbs, plus any house in 33 postcodes.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE WEEKLY REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER

No. 7/59 Staughton St, Melton South, is for sale for $290,000-$310,000.

They could also afford at least 50 per cent of the house or unit stock in 503 suburbs.

CoreLogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said the analysis — which

used household incomes modelled by the Australian National University Centre for

Social Research and Methods — revealed worrying signs for housing affordability.

“Combined dwelling market values have surged to record highs across Sydney, Melbourne and

Adelaide, while income growth has not kept pace,” she said.

No. 7 Moe Court, Dallas, is priced at $650,000-$715,000.

“The implication is that housing may become less affordable when basing borrowing capacity on incomes alone, and more than income is needed to keep up with the housing market.”

CoreLogic’s latest Hedonic Home Value Index shows Melbourne home and unit values rose 1.8 per cent in the past month, while regional Victoria saw a 1.7 per cent rise.

Melbourne’s median house value was up 2.2 per cent to $908,239 in May, while the unit figure grew 0.8 per cent to $605,505, according to the CoreLogic report.

The city’s median value for all residential properties now sits at $740,562.

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.