Renters in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are forking out a larger portion of their income than Sydneysiders to put a roof over their head according to a new housing affordability report.
And saving for a deposit for a unit is also a longer slog in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie compared to Sydney according to the latest ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability report.
The report, which looks at local wages along with property and rental prices, giving a clear picture of just how much housing costs have gone up across Australia.
Renters in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie were having to hand over 39.9 per cent of their household income to pay overall for a dwelling, which includes both houses and units in June this year, according to the report.
Those wanting to rent a house are handing over 41.1 per cent of their income in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and 33.8 per cent of their income in rent for units.
That's a larger portion of household income than those in Sydney are paying for their rents.
The latest figures, for June 2022, show rents in Sydney for dwellings overall were taking up just 30.9 per cent of household incomes.
For those renting houses in Sydney, 33.8 per cent of their income went on rent and for units, 27.4 per cent of household income was spent.
Rentals in regional NSW overall didn't fare much better, with local households having to dedicate 37.9 per cent of household income toward paying the rent.
The story wasn't much better for those wanting to buy a home.
The report states that it would take 15.3 years to save a deposit for a house or 11.3 years for a unit in Newcastle or Lake Macquarie.
That takes saving for a unit in the Hunter a longer slog than in Sydney where it takes 10.1 years to save for a unit. However saving for a house in Sydney still takes longer, taking 17.1 years in June 2022.
Overall the national report found that property prices have begun to decline in regional areas, but a complicated mix of factors meant households there were unlikely to experience an improvement in affordability any time soon, ANZ economist Felicity Emmett said.
The report found that prices in the combined regional markets which make up regional Australia had declined by 0.8 per cent in July, with Ms Emmett anticipating that they would fall further.
"The main reason that we think that house prices will decline is that the amount that people can borrow will be reduced under higher interest rates and on our forecasts, that borrowing capacity or that maximum borrowing capacity will be reduced by nearly 30 per cent," she said.
But this did not necessarily mean that affordability would improve.
"We've had very large increases in food prices, petrol prices are up a lot, electricity prices are up.
"All of these price rises have been in the non-discretionary category, so that's eating into households' disposable income. And also for someone saving for a deposit, we've seen very strong rises in rents. So all of that is making saving actually even more challenging," she said.
A lack of housing supply in the regions, and an increased number of city workers working remotely, meant that demand for rental stock was unlikely to significantly ease, Ms Emmett said.
