The average first home buyer in Australia is, in February 2011, having to arrange an average mortgage of $277,000 for their property purchase. This has dropped from the average first home buyers mortgage of $281,600 a year ago in February 2010, and is also slightly lower than it was in February 2009.
The numbers of First Home Buyers is also dropping, in comparison to all property buyers.
This change is shown on the chart below, calculated from ABS data.
First Home Buyers Average Loan Size 2009 to 2011
| Month and Year | Average Loan | % of all loans |
| Feb-2009 | $279,000 | 26.8% |
| Mar-2009 | $287,000 | 27.4% |
| Apr-2009 | $284,500 | 28.1% |
| May-2009 | $281,800 | 28.5% |
| Jun-2009 | $270,200 | 27.1% |
| Jul-2009 | $269,700 | 25.3% |
| Aug-2009 | $270,800 | 24.7% |
| Sep-2009 | $274,600 | 26.1% |
| Oct-2009 | $275,500 | 26.0% |
| Nov-2009 | $283,900 | 22.6% |
| Dec-2009 | $289,700 | 21.5% |
| Jan-2010 | $282,500 | 21.0% |
| Feb-2010 | $281,600 | 18.6% |
| Mar-2010 | $284,500 | 16.4% |
| Apr-2010 | $289,600 | 16.9% |
| May-2010 | $286,600 | 16.5% |
| Jun-2010 | $283,800 | 16.2% |
| Jul-2010 | $286,500 | 15.9% |
| Aug-2010 | $283,200 | 15.5% |
| Sep-2010 | $280,400 | 15.9% |
| Oct-2010 | $283,600 | 15.4% |
| Nov-2010 | $278,800 | 15.6% |
| Dec-2010 | $281,700 | 15.8% |
| Jan-2011 | $274,300 | 15.2% |
| Feb-2011 | $277,000 | 14.9% |
The logical reason for the drop in numbers buying, is the reduction in the First Home Buyers Grants now available. This is one reason that some people are using to show how bad the situation is now for First Home buyers, with the numbers having dropped from almost 30% down to 14.9%. At first glance this does seem a troublesome figure, when highlighted as above, but, when looked at over a longer period, you can see that 2009 was the odd year out, and all that has happened is that First Home buyer numbers are returning to normal.
First Home Buyers Average Loan Size 2003 to 2011
| Month and Year | Average Loan | % of all loans |
| Feb-2003 | $160,500 | 15.7% |
| Feb-2004 | $186,300 | 12.7% |
| Feb-2005 | $210,200 | 15.9% |
| Feb-2006 | $220,300 | 17.5% |
| Feb-2007 | $228,600 | 17.4% |
| Feb-2008 | $227,900 | 17.3% |
| Feb-2009 | $279,000 | 26.8% |
| Feb-2010 | $281,600 | 18.6% |
| Feb-2011 | $277,000 | 14.9% |
However, how does this average First Home Buyers Mortgage compare to the average wages over the years ?
Most First Home Buyers these days are two income families, many being both full time, but some with one part time. A comparison against both possibilities is shown below, using average wages from the ABS.
Australian First Homes Buyers Mortgage and Income Multipliers
|
2 Full Time |
1 Full + 1 Part Time |
||||
| Month – Year | Average Loan | Income | multiple | Income | multiple |
| Feb-95 | $90,800 | $67,574 | 1.34 | $52,640 | 1.72 |
| Feb-03 | $160,500 | $93,298 | 1.72 | $72,407 | 2.22 |
| Feb-04 | $186,300 | $98,571 | 1.89 | $76,609 | 2.43 |
| Feb-05 | $210,200 | $102,497 | 2.05 | $79,589 | 2.64 |
| Feb-06 | $220,300 | $107,390 | 2.05 | $83,364 | 2.64 |
| Feb-07 | $228,600 | $110,204 | 2.07 | $85,675 | 2.67 |
| Feb-08 | $227,900 | $116,048 | 1.96 | $90,061 | 2.53 |
| Feb-09 | $279,000 | $122,190 | 2.28 | $94,973 | 2.94 |
| Feb-10 | $281,600 | $128,612 | 2.19 | $100,121 | 2.81 |
| Feb-11 | $277,000 | $134,118 | 2.07 | $104,302 | 2.66 |
For the 1 Full time and 1 Part Time incomes, I have used the Male Full time plus 50% of the Female Part time average incomes, as this is probably the most common combination.
You can see that the multiples of the mortgage required over the actual incomes are quite low, when compared to some of the common multiples being quoted of 7, 8, 9 or even 10 times incomes etc.
Even if the average First Home buyers only earned 50% of the average wage, and at that stage we would expect both to need to work full time, the multiples would have been:
- 2.68 in 1995
- 3.44 in 2003 up 28% since 1995
- 4.14 in 2011 up 20% since 2003
Not that great a change over the last 8 years, but more-so over 16 years.
The average wage figures used were also sourced from the ABS:
Full Time Adult Total Annual Earnings
| Month | Male | Female | Adult |
| Nov-1995 | $37,705 | $29,869 | $32,744 |
| Nov-2002 | $51,516 | $41,782 | $48,012 |
| Nov-2003 | $54,647 | $43,924 | $50,851 |
| Nov-2004 | $56,680 | $45,817 | $52,832 |
| Nov-2005 | $59,337 | $48,053 | $55,375 |
| Nov-2006 | $61,147 | $49,057 | $56,820 |
| Nov-2007 | $64,074 | $51,974 | $59,779 |
| Nov-2008 | $67,756 | $54,434 | $62,863 |
| Nov-2009 | $71,630 | $56,982 | $66,248 |
| Nov-2010 | $74,485 | $59,634 | $68,900 |