Buying a home 5 times harder now than in 1980

Courier-Mail

2 days ago

It is now five times harder for young Queenslanders to buy their first home than it was for their Boomer and Gen-X parents, according to shock new analysis exposing the enduring impact of the nation's longest property boom.
Extensive PropTrack analysis over 45 years shows a typical house in Brisbane, which cost just $32,750 in 1980, is now valued at an astounding 420 per cent more in 2025 when adjusted for inflation.
That's because the $32,750 spent on a home in 1980 equates to about $174,600 today, but the current median house price has skyrocketed to $910,000.
The analysis reveals how much harder it is for the current generation to buy property compared to their parents' era, and has prompted experts to sound the alarm for first home buyers as saving for a deposit becomes more out of reach than ever before.
SEE WHAT HOMES REALLY USED TO COST IN YOUR SUBURB
PropTrack economist Angust Moore said young people were taking longer to enter the market, relying more on family support, or accessing government incentives to buy with a smaller deposit.
'The deposit hurdle is just unequivocally harder than it was four or five decades ago, and that has manifested in home ownership rates which have fallen over those years,' Mr Moore said.
He said lower interest rates now than the 1980s and early 1990s, when they surged to a high of 17 per cent, had helped drive up property prices in that time due to greater competition and demand.
Brisbane's median value surged from $32,750 in December 1980 to $95,000 in December 1990, $152,000 in 2000, $465,000 in 2010, and $910,000 by March 2025.
Brisbane units show a slightly less dramatic trend, rising from $38,750 in 1980 to $636,000 today.
The trend played out differently across suburbs, with blue-chip as well as entry-level areas included among the most striking examples of real price growth.
A typical home in inner-city Hawthorne, priced at $2.125m in 2025, is worth more than ten times its inflation-adjusted 1980 value of $164,500.
In Woodridge, homes cost $24,950 45 years ago – equal to about $133,000 today. But the Logan suburb's current median house price is $650,000.
The long boom on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen prices rise even more sharply than in the 1990s, when rates plummeted and the real estate market flourished.
Newstead locals and engineers Toby Tremain and Georgia Stel, both 25, said they were being pushed out of their preferred suburb by astronomical house prices and currently preferred to rent and live in the city.
'We are both open to owning an apartment, we're not like we must have a house and live in the city,' Mr Tremain said.
'I understand that's not feasible.
'But I think the trade-off is, like living in this area right now for us is really enjoyable.'
Rising prices aren't exclusive to the capital, with regional and coastal centres also recording huge real growth.
On the Gold Coast, houses in Surfers Paradise were already more expensive than Brisbane in 1980 at $74,500. That figure would be equivalent to $397,200 considering rising living costs, yet a typical home in the Glitter Strip now costs $1.35m.
Another Gold Coast example, Ashmore, was closer to Brisbane's median in 1980 at $43,950 — $234,300 in today's dollars. Its current house price is $1.138m.
Further north, a house in Aitkenvale, Townsville had a median of $29,625 in December 1980, or $158,000 adjusted. It's now worth more than three times that amount at $514,000.
Real Estate Institue of Queensland (REIQ) CEO Antonia Mercorella said price growth was driven by a chronic undersupply of housing.
'Scarcity continues to put upward pressure on prices, particularly impacting first-home buyers who now face a vastly different affordability landscape than previous generations,' Ms Mercorella said.
'If we want to enable sustainable price growth and ensure future generations the same opportunity to own a home, housing policy must be squarely focused on supply.
'Any attempt to improve affordability without significantly increasing housing stock is doomed to fall short.'
MORE NEWS
Secret tactics of dodgy agents exposed
Real estate playboy spills on Aussie market
Byron Bay's Beach Hotel sold for $140m
Buyers agent Alex Pope said Baby Boomer and Gen X homeowners were unlocking equity in their properties to help younger family members buy through a guarantor loan.
'First-home buyers are often getting support from mum and dad, and in some ways it's very easy for the older generation who have fared really well from the market to do this,' Mr Pope said.
'As a young person who may have just started in a career, recently moved out of home and paying rent, you're in a really expensive time of life while your income is probably still quite low, so getting the deposit is the hardest part.'
Mr Pope advised young buyers to treat their first home as a stepping stone – 'your first home isn't your last, but it does catapult you to the next'.
By starting in a duplex, unit, or renovator, young buyers could build equity and eventually move into a more ideal property as their careers and incomes grew, he said.
Only a tiny number of suburbs across Greater Brisbane remained at 2000 or even 1990 prices. Russell Island was most frequently highlighted in the data as having current prices comparable to historical values of various other suburbs.
Prices in a handful of other outer suburbs including North Booval, Logan Central, Goodna and South Brisbane units were now on par with some values from 20-plus years ago.
But the overwhelming majority of homes had now well-surpassed those old benchmarks, cementing a major decline in affordability.