While there is some relief for Canberra buyers saving for a home deposit, servicing a mortgage in the capital has become more expensive, new data has found.
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Buyers are spending 9.3 years to save for a 20 per cent house deposit in Canberra, a small improvement on 9.5 years the same time last year, ANZ and CoreLogic's quarterly Housing Affordability Report found.
It is also slightly quicker for unit buyers to save for a deposit - 5.7 years to save, compared with six years in March 2023.
However, servicing a mortgage has become more expensive in the past 12 months.
The report found in the March quarter Canberra home owners were spending 38.6 per cent of their income on new mortgage repayments, across all dwelling types.
While it was an improvement on the previous quarter's figures (39.1 per cent of income), mortgage affordability had worsened since March 2023 (36.6 per cent).
House owners were sacrificing 44.4 per cent of their income to service a mortgage, the report found, up from 41.8 per cent last year.
Unit owners had a more marginal decline in mortgage affordability, sacrificing 26.9 per cent of income for repayments compared with 26.4 per cent last year.
Canberra home owners were better off than most other capital city mortgage holders, however, with national mortgage affordability sitting at 48.9 per cent.
Sydney was the most difficult capital city for loan holders, who were sacrificing almost 60 per cent of their income to meet repayments.
Rental affordability improves marginally
The report also analysed housing affordability across the renting population.
It found Canberrans were forking out 26.9 per cent of their income to rent a house or 22.1 per cent for a unit.
Affordability had marginally improved since last year, when tenants were spending 27.6 per cent and 22.8 per cent of their income to rent a house or unit, respectively.
Canberra was found to be the most affordable city for renters across houses and units combined, closely followed by Darwin.
However, those on lower incomes were spending a disproportionately high amount of their wage on rent.
Canberra renters in the lower quartile income and rent brackets were putting 38.8 per cent of their income towards rent, compared to 25.3 per cent in the median range and 17.6 per cent in the upper quartile.
Hobart and Canberra were the only two capital cities to see a decline in weekly rents in 2023, though the trend appeared to be reversing.
The report found while Canberra rent values fell 3.8 per cent between June 2022 and September 2023, they have since risen 3.5 per cent.