Why Australia is losing 24 affordable houses every day

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Huge pay rise needed to afford first home 01:48
The dream of affordable housing slips further away as new research reveals Australian cities are hemorrhaging 24 sub-$750,000 homes every single day.
The latest Ray White Economic Update analysed properties that sold for under $750,000 across Australia's nine capital cities between 2015 and 2025 – and the result was alarming.
'Sydney leads the decline with 7.1 affordable properties disappearing daily, followed by Brisbane losing 5.0 and Melbourne 3.6,' the report by Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said.
'Even smaller markets show significant losses – Gold Coast sheds 2.5 properties daily, Adelaide 2.1, while Canberra and Hobart each lose around 0.7 properties per day.
'Darwin stands alone as the only capital showing growth, gaining 0.3 affordable properties daily.'
On the flip side, the unit market across the combined capital cities was adding 1.5 affordable properties daily, albeit this growth falls far short from offsetting house losses – creating a net reduction of nearly 23 affordable homes daily.
'Looking specifically at houses, Sydney loses 5.8 affordable houses daily – equivalent to one house vanishing from the affordable market every four hours,' Conisbee said.
'Brisbane follows closely at 5.5 houses per day, while Melbourne sheds 5.1 daily.
'Between 2015 and 2025, Sydney's affordable house stock collapsed from 24,009 to just 2,674 – an 89 per cent decline that mirrors similar trends across the Gold Coast (94 per cent decline) and Canberra (89 per cent decline).'
Perth loses 2.7 affordable houses daily, while Adelaide – traditionally an affordable capital – now sheds 2.2 houses per day from its sub-$750,000 market.
'Even smaller markets aren't immune,' Conisbee noted.
Conisbee warned that on current trajectories, Sydney's would have zero affordable houses by 2027.
'While Brisbane and Melbourne retain larger affordable stocks, their rapid daily losses signal similar endpoint scenarios within the decade,' she said.
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Conisbee said that the crisis stemmed from multiple converging factors, including rising construction costs, which peaked at 17.8 per cent annually in 2022, pushing new housing in many cities beyond affordable thresholds.
'Chronic undersupply means demand continues outstripping available stock, while government first-home buyer assistance schemes paradoxically inflate prices by increasing buyer purchasing power without addressing supply constraints,' she said.
'Ideally affordable units would be able to offset the reduction in affordable houses and the number of units priced under $750,000 has increased dramatically.
'Cities like Perth have seen 105 per cent growth in affordable unit sales, and Darwin recorded 71 per cent growth.
'Nationally, capitals are gaining just 1.5 affordable units per day (but) the increase is clearly not enough to offset the drop in houses.'
Conisbee said that affordable unit gains compensate for only six per cent of affordable house losses, creating a net reduction of 22.9 affordable properties daily across all capitals.
Even cities showing unit growth like Melbourne (+1.5 units daily) and Perth (+1.1 units daily) cannot match their house losses of 5.1 and 2.7 respectively.
'Australia is losing nearly 23 affordable homes daily with minimal replacement stock filling the void,' she said.
The report comes as a new survey by Finder revealed that 35 per cent of Aussies do not believe they will ever be able to afford a home.
Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, said the dream of homeownership was slipping out of reach for more Australians.
'Record prices, steep borrowing costs, and saving for a deposit are locking people out,' Cooke said.
'In many suburbs, even a six-figure salary won't comfortably cover a mortgage.'