Adelaide’s housing market less affordable than New York
Data published in the Demographia International Housing Affordability 2026 report released today shows a grim picture for first home buyers wanting to enter the market in Adelaide.
Since the last report, Adelaide has moved down the affordability ranking to now be the fourth least affordable in the world, moving from sixth place in the previous report. This now places Adelaide as more unaffordable than Los Angeles, London and Vancouver.
This comes as data revealed by the Valuer General just this week shows metropolitan house prices rising in Adelaide by over 13% since July.
Shadow Housing Minister, Josh Teague, said this report should be a concern for first home buyers wanting to enter the market.
“What this report shows is the housing market in Adelaide is impossibly unaffordable for first home buyers,” Mr Teague said.
“Adelaide used to be the most affordable place in the country to buy a house – now we are more unaffordable than major international cities like London and New York.
“When this report was released in 2022 Adelaide ranked 14th. Now we are the fourth least affordable. Labor’s plan to fix the housing crisis is simply just not working.
“Labor’s plan has been to push first home buyers, downsizers and now investors all into new builds, creating even more demand in a constrained segment of the housing market,” Mr Teague said.
“The government has benefited from record stamp duty revenue windfall to the tune of $1 billion over the last four years – it’s no wonder that they want to see house prices go up. It’s the only way they can hide their budget blow-outs.”
The State Liberals have called for a number of practical measures to help first home buyers enter the market, including:
Expanding stamp duty concessions for first home buyers to established homes, providing them with more choice.
Exempt apprentices from payroll tax to help with the skills shortage in the housing sector.
Both these measures could be funded entirely by the additional revenue the government has brought in for stamp duty above their projections.
Data published in the Demographia International Housing Affordability 2026 report released today shows a grim picture for first home buyers wanting to enter the market in Adelaide.
Since the last report, Adelaide has moved down the affordability ranking to now be the fourth least affordable in the world, moving from sixth place in the previous report. This now places Adelaide as more unaffordable than Los Angeles, London and Vancouver.
This comes as data revealed by the Valuer General just this week shows metropolitan house prices rising in Adelaide by over 13% since July.
Shadow Housing Minister, Josh Teague, said this report should be a concern for first home buyers wanting to enter the market.
“What this report shows is the housing market in Adelaide is impossibly unaffordable for first home buyers,” Mr Teague said.
“Adelaide used to be the most affordable place in the country to buy a house – now we are more unaffordable than major international cities like London and New York.
“When this report was released in 2022 Adelaide ranked 14th. Now we are the fourth least affordable. Labor’s plan to fix the housing crisis is simply just not working.
“Labor’s plan has been to push first home buyers, downsizers and now investors all into new builds, creating even more demand in a constrained segment of the housing market,” Mr Teague said.
“The government has benefited from record stamp duty revenue windfall to the tune of $1 billion over the last four years – it’s no wonder that they want to see house prices go up. It’s the only way they can hide their budget blow-outs.”
The State Liberals have called for a number of practical measures to help first home buyers enter the market, including:
Expanding stamp duty concessions for first home buyers to established homes, providing them with more choice.
Exempt apprentices from payroll tax to help with the skills shortage in the housing sector.
Both these measures could be funded entirely by the additional revenue the government has brought in for stamp duty above their projections.
What this report shows is the housing market in Adelaide is impossibly unaffordable for first home buyers,
