The Need for Moderate Income Housing in the Greater Sydney Region

Abstract

This report was commissioned by Landcom to assist in the development of its Moderate Income Housing Policy. This policy aims to develop market based affordable housing options for households with moderate incomes. For the purposes of this report, Moderate Income Households (MIHs) are defined as households with incomes between the 40th and 60th percentile of household incomes, which equated to approximately $42,000 to $65,000 per year in Sydney in mid-2003. This report also aims to identify the characteristics of the moderate income housing market in Sydney and establish its current position with regard to housing affordability. In particular, the report sets out to address the following three tasks: Task 1: An historical assessment of the emergence of increasing ‘unaffordability’ in home ownership for moderate income households in Sydney. Task 2: An analysis of the current extent and nature of moderate income ‘housing stress’ in Sydney. Task 3: An assessment of the impact of housing affordability in Sydney on “key workers” on moderate incomes.