The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (Council) introduced a Housing Outcomes Framework in its State of the Housing System 2026 report.
The Framework reflects the Council’s vision of the housing system as one that provides affordable, fit for purpose and secure housing for households of all incomes and in all locations.
Outcome 4 of the Framework is that there is fair access to the benefits of homeownership, with a sub‑outcome that home ownership is affordable.
The charts below show trends in dwelling prices over the past decade compared to trends in wages. The charts help track progress toward Outcome 4, as an indicator of home ownership affordability.
Key findings
- Nationally, dwelling prices have grown significantly faster than wages since December 2015, placing pressure on home buyer affordability, particularly for first home buyers. Recent dwelling price movements have been modest in the broader historical context.
- Dwelling prices have also grown faster than wages in every state and territory except the Northern Territory since December 2015.
Notes: The ABS Wage Price Index series is total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, private and public sectors, original. ABS Wage Price Index data is available up to June quarter 2026 as at the publication of this report. The Wage Price Index does not fully capture improvements in households take home pay as it does not take into account people moving to better paying jobs, bonuses or superannuation increases.
The Cotality Hedonic Home Value Index series is used for dwelling prices and is available up to July 2026, as at the publication of this report.
Source: ABS Wage Price Index 2026; Cotality 2026.
Note on use
An index shows how a value has changed over time since a base period – usually set at a value of 100. This allows comparisons of growth rates in different series (such as dwelling prices and wages) over time. Indexes do not show which series have higher dollar values at a particular point in time.
For example, for Australia, the Home Value Index has increased from 100 in December 2015 to 163 in June 2025, which represents a 63% increase in dwelling prices. The Wage Price Index has increased from 100 in December quarter 2015 to 127 in June quarter 2025, which represents a 27% increase in wages. That is, for Australia, dwelling prices grew more than twice as fast as wages from December 2015 to June 2025.
This insight report considers more recent dwelling price and wage data than the State of the Housing System 2026 report, which published affordability data to December 2025.
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