Homeownership rates have plunged across Sydney’s inner and middle-ring suburbs, according to the Grattan Institute, a non-partisan public policy think tank.

The Grattan Institute’s analysis of census data found that the proportion of homeowners declined in 87% of Greater Sydney neighbourhoods between 2011 and 2016. The declines were most dramatic in a band of suburbs between about 10 and 25 km to the west and southwest of the CBD.

The slump in homeownership rates coincides with soaring property prices and rising population density in many of the Harbour City’s districts. The median price for a detached house in Sydney was $1.1m during the last quarter, after surging more than 80% over the past five years, according to the Domain Group.

The biggest decline was in Arncliffe-Bardwell Park, where the rate of homeownership fell by 12.7%, followed by Homebush Bay-Silverwater (-9.6%) and Castle Hill-East (-9.1%). Moreover, one-sixth of Sydney’s level 2 statistical areas (which generally fuse two or three adjacent suburbs) saw homeownership rates decline by five percentage points or more between 2011 and 2016.

In contrast, homeownership has increased in some of Sydney’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, including Mosman (+0.3%), Rose Bay-Vaucluse (+0.6%), Double Bay-Bellevue Hill (+1.4%), and Avalon-Palm Beach (+3%).

Brendan Coates, researcher at the Grattan Institute, said that the 2016 census made it clear that the Aussie dream of homeownership is slipping further out of reach.

“Whether or not you can purchase a home within 20 kilometres of our big city centres will increasingly depend on the wealth of your parents rather than on anything you can do for yourself,” Coates said. 
 

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