Sydney first-home buyers need seven years and one month to save for a house

Sydney’s pandemic property boom has pushed the time it takes first-home buyers to enter the market to a record seven years and one month, according to new research. It now takes six months longer than it did last year for a couple to save a 20 per cent deposit on an entry-priced house of $770,000, Domain’s First-Home Buyer Report, released Monday, found.

First-home buyers in Sydney have it tougher than anywhere else in the nation: it takes a whole year longer for them to save than in Melbourne and Canberra, and three years longer than in Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin.

In the eastern suburbs north region, which takes in a range of postcodes from Bronte and Moore Park to Paddington and Vaucluse, it takes first-home buyers a whopping 24 years – the longest time across Sydney – to save for a 20 per cent deposit on an entry-level house. That is a year longer than in 2020, data shows.

The shortest time to save for a 20 per cent house deposit in Sydney is 5.2 years if buyers were looking to purchase in St Marys and Mount Druitt, but even these regions saw increases compared to a year ago: It takes two months longer to save for a house deposit in St Marys and four months longer in Mount Druitt.

The good news? For first-time buyers after an apartment, the time it takes to save is substantially less than takes for a house and, moreover, it’s getting faster. The data showed that, for an entry-level unit of $590,000, it takes five years and five months – four months less than a year ago.

Source: Sydney first-home buyers need seven years and one month to save for a house (domain.com.au)