PHOTO: 123RF Options to get your foot in the door include a Welcome Home Loan to taking in a flatmate.
OPINION: House prices have soared over the past decade. For many lower-income folks, the prospect of homeownership has become an increasingly distant dream.
But now the market is starting to cool down, it’s worth running the numbers again: how much income do you need to get on the ladder?
Let’s set our sights nice and low. A property in the lower quartile – meaning it’s less expensive than three-quarters of houses nationwide – costs $405,000.
With a 20 per cent deposit, you’d have to borrow $324,000, which works out to weekly payments of about $458 for a 25 year term.
If you commit 30 per cent of your take-home pay towards mortgage costs, that suggests you need to be earning $105,000 before tax, or have two people each earning $47,000 (the couple’s total being smaller because of lower marginal tax rates).
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