Western suburbs dominate list of Sydney housing stress

Nine out of the 10 Sydney suburbs experiencing the highest levels of housing stress are in Sydney’s western suburbs, a study by lobbying group Australians for Affordable Housing (AAH) has found. 

The suburb in the worst housing strife is Auburn, about 19 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD, where more than a quarter (28%) of residents are experiencing housing stress, followed by Fairfield (25%), Canterbury (24%) and Strathfield (21%). 

AAH defines housing stress as being the lowest 40% of equivalised household incomes who spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. 

“A very wealthy person could easily decide to spend a large amount on a big house and still have plenty in dollar terms left over for everything else. So when someone in that bottom 40% is paying more than 30% of their income in housing costs, they are said to be in housing stress,” a spokesperson for AAH explained. 

The outer-western suburb of Fairfield has the highest proportion of people experiencing both mortgage stress (34%) and private rental stress (51%). 

Mortgage stress means those using more than 30% of the household income on mortgage repayments, and private rent stress means those in private rental using more than 30% of the household income on rental payments.

Botany Bay, near Sydney airport, is the only suburb not located in the city’s west to feature in the top 10 most stressed suburbs, with 19% of its residents experiencing housing stress, 18% experiencing mortgage stress and 34% experiencing private rent stress.

 *This  league  table  provides  for  comparison  of  small  local  areas  and  is  based  on  modelled  census   numbers.  These    are  not  directly  comparable  with  recently  published  housing  stress  modelling  on   ABS  Survey  of  Income   and  Housing  data. 

AAH campaign manager Sarah Toohey says the figures show where the pain is being felt and that urgent action by the NSW and Commonwealth governments is needed.

“Sydney needs a housing strategy that includes more than releasing land on the city fringe. Premier O’Farrell needs to invest in more affordable housing options close to jobs and services to reduce the squeeze on weekly budgets,” she says.

“Housing is the single biggest cost of living issue in Australia. When low-income households spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs they are officially in housing stress. This means they have very little left over to cover other costs like food, transport, bills or money for emergencies.”

“Australians for Affordable Housing is urging Sydney residents in housing stress to join the campaign to convince governments to address the housing crisis.

“We need collective action at all levels of government to ensure that we fix our broken housing system, and take the pressure off families struggling with high housing costs and lack of affordable options,” she says. 

Australians for Affordable Housing is a coalition of national housing, welfare and community sector organisations.

Photograph by Rory O'Brien