Australian houses most affordable in ten years
The Reserve Bank has hit back at claims Australia's property market is unaffordable, saying that buying a house is the most reasonable it has been in a decade.
Speaking at a business launch in Sydney, governor of the Reserve Bank Glenn Stevens said Australian house prices were not exorbitantly high as thought by many.
"Australian dwelling prices on a national basis have in fact declined and are now about where they were in 2002. That is, housing has become more affordable," he explained.
Despite the ratio of property prices compared to income being higher than what it was 20 years ago, Mr Stevens said Australia's house prices were about average on an international level.
"Four or five years ago we supposedly had a housing affordability 'crisis'. Now it seems that the problem some people fear is that of housing becoming even more affordable."
Despite some experts warning that Australian property market is at risk of a crash due to economic uncertainty worldwide, the Reserve Bank has said that a downturn is unlikely due to high demand in the market.
The bank's assistant governor Guy Debelle said the only housing oversupply was evident in parts of Queensland, with the rest of the country struggling to keep up with demand.
