Record-breaking number of years it takes to save for a home   

New Daily
Nov 25, 2025



Australians have to save for longer than ever before to put together a house deposit, according to the Cotality Housing Affordability Report.

Across the country, hopeful home owners must save for 12 years to put away enough for a 20 per cent deposit, the report released on Tuesday said.


The length of time it takes to pay off a mortgage has also reached record highs across the country.

“Despite recent rate dips, the cost of servicing a new loan is stubbornly high, requiring 45 per cent of median household income,” Cotality head of research Eliza Owen said.   

The only area where costs have not soared to record levels is monthly mortgage repayments – because of recent rate cuts.

Owen said multiple factors from the Covid pandemic and afterwards had helped to drive the change.

“Australian home values have climbed roughly 47.3 per cent since March 2020, an extraordinary rise that added about $280,000 to the median dwelling value. This surge was fuelled by pandemic-era monetary stimulus and record-low interest rates that supercharged borrowing capacity and demand, even as housing supply lagged well behind household formation,” she said.

“Supply-side limitations have also compounded these demand pressures, with construction sector insolvencies, rising material costs, and planning bottlenecks restricting new housing delivery.

“In short, the past five years combined extraordinary demand drivers with supply constraints, creating an extraordinary boom in both home values and rents.”

Putting together a deposit

Those trying to get on the property ladder face their first hurdle when it comes to saving a deposit.

Nationally, accumulating a 20 per cent deposit will take an average of 12 years – but buyers in some capital cities can expect to save for even longer.

In Sydney it takes 16.7 years to save for a house deposit, and 9.5 years to scrape together 20 per cent for a unit. In Melbourne it is 11.2 years for a house, and 7.4 years for a unit.

In Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, it will also take longer than a decade to accumulate a house deposit.

housing affordability
Key challenges such as increasing housing supply are being addressed. 


Dire picture as housing affordability sinks to record lows
Pockets of affordability
Despite that, Melbourne – along with Hobart and Canberra – is considered one of the most affordable capital cities to buy in.

“We’ve seen a few examples of improved affordability, or even just steady affordability,” Owen said.

She said the Victorian capital’s affordability had improved since 2021, partly because of “unintentional factors like a lot of people leaving Melbourne through the pandemic creating less demand”.

“There was also a bit of an overhang from the 2010s apartment boom,” Owen said.

“Then there have been more intentional factors, like reducing the minimum land value for land tax payments, which has captured a lot more of essentially investment property owners.

“It seems that has cooled the market.”

Regions also feel the pain   
There have also been affordability drops outside the capital cities.


“The extraordinary growth in house prices in regional Australia has led to a greater deterioration in affordability,” Owen said.

“It is pretty much putting the regions on par with the capitals.”

In regional NSW, it takes 12.4 years to save a 20 per cent deposit for a house. In regional Victoria, it’s 10 years.

How to make property more affordable
“The good news is that we know there are things that can change the situation,” Owen said.

Work is being done on key challenges such as increasing supply and making planning more streamlined and improving productivity.

“These are all good things, and those are the kind of things we need to deliver more to make housing more affordable,” she said.

“What we are still lacking, though we know it can make a difference, is addressing the supply side, such as taxing housing to make it less attractive as an investment.”