This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
HIGH housing costs are pushing essential workers out of Sydney and Melbourne, despite their crucial role in keeping cities running.
A new study from AHURI revealed that only two local government areas in Sydney and its adjacent localities offer affordable median house prices to key workers and both are more than 150km from the Sydney CBD.
The study conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney looked at the housing and commuting patterns of key workers, who are identified as including teachers, nurses, emergency service workers, community welfare workers, public transport operators, delivery personnel, clears and laundry workers.
In Melbourne, there is only a single location affordable to key workers, the local government area of the Golden Plains, which sits more than 80km from the centre of CBD.
The result, according to, is over 52,000 key workers in Sydney and 37,000 in Melbourne living in households that are experiencing housing stress.
With stresses including around 31,000 workers in Sydney and more than 18,000 in Melbourne living in crowded homes, this is most prevalent in inner ring areas.
“There is significant movement away from inner-city areas among key workers aged 30–44 whose moves may be driven by factors like starting a family or a desire to buy a home rather than rent,” said Catherine Gilbert, lead researcher.
Between 2011 and 2016 the number of key workers living in inner city regions fell, while less expensive outer suburban areas and satellite cities such as Wollongong, Newcastle and Geelong saw an influx of these residents.
The preference towards buying over renting further driven by the unaffordable nature of rent, with only 2% of new rental properties in Greater Sydney offering rents affordable to key worker households earning $790 a week, 5% to those earning $960 a week and 11% earning $1,150.
“This can lead to a shortage of more experienced workers in inner areas or to workers commuting long distances – which can exacerbate work related stress and fatigue. Long distances between home and work can also limit the ability of workers to be ‘on call’ and respond quickly to emergency situations and spikes in service demand,” added Gilbert.
Additionally, in both capitals, key workers are more likely than the labour force to commute at least 30kms to reach their place of work.
“The research findings provide another impetus for governments to address housing affordability, as failure to do so could impact the safety and functioning of our cities into the future,” concluded Gilbert.
The study found that policies and programs to increase the supply of secure, long-term rentals and affordable housing tenures are needed to assist these workers in achieving home ownership.
