Housing affordability has improved nationally, with the proportion of family income required to meet loan repayments decreasing by 0.7 percentage points to 30.8 percent, the March quarter edition of the Adelaide Bank/Real Estate Institute of Australia Housing Affordability Report shows. For the March quarter, with the exception of Tasmania, all states and territories recorded decreases in the number of loans to first home buyers with Tasmania the only state or territory where the number of loans to first home buyers actually increased.

Median weekly family income rose 0.4 percent to $1,615 during the March quarter of 2015. This represents a 2.5 percent increase when compared to the same quarter of 2014. When compared to the last quarter, all states and territories saw housing affordability improving with the exception of South Australia where the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increased by 0.6 percentage points.

“New South Wales again was the most unaffordable state or territory for home buyers while the Australian Capital Territory had the smallest proportion of median income required to meet average loan repayment across the country," said REIA President Neville Sanders. "South Australia recorded the only decline in housing affordability across the states and territories during the quarter.”

The average loan size in NSW is above the $400,000 mark, said Damian Percy, General Manager of Adelaide Bank. "Property in Sydney and Melbourne appears, to an extent, to have almost become an international asset class," said Percy.