Sydney Median House Price / Average Annual Wage

Year Stapledon (UNSW) WSP Estimated
1880 8.9×
1885 8.2×
1890 9.5×
1895 7.6×
1900 6.5×
1905 7.4×
1910 6.5×
1915 7.3×
1920 7.1×
1925 5.6×
1930 4.6×
1935 5.4×
1940 5.0×
1945 4.5×
1950 7.5× 6.3×
1955 4.2×
1960 5.1× 4.5×
1965 5.6×
1970 5.6× 5.0×
1975 5.3×
1980 6.4× 6.3×
1985 5.2×
1990 7.8× 7.5×
1995 7.4× 6.4×
2000 8.9× 8.1×
2005 11.1× 10.3×
2010 11.0×
2015 14.4×
2020 15.1×
2024 20.4× 20.4×
2025 21.0×

Sources

Stapledon — Nigel Stapledon, "Long-term Housing Prices in Australia," UNSW. Ratio of median Sydney house price to average annual wage.
Paper: yumpu.com/…/long-term-housing-prices-in-australia
Wages: measuringworth.com — Australian Wages (Hutchinson & Ploeckl)

WSP — Wealth & Security Planners, "Australian Housing Affordability." Median house price as multiple of annual earnings, using ABS, RBA & CoreLogic data.
wsp.com.au/…/australian_housing_affordability

Estimated — The Stapledon and WSP series end at 2005 and 2024 respectively. To extend the picture to 2025, we applied reported growth rates to WSP’s last data point (20.4×). Sydney house prices grew approximately 6.5% in 2025 (CoreLogic, PropTrack), while wages grew 3.4% (ABS Wage Price Index, December 2025). Prices rising roughly twice as fast as wages pushes the ratio to an estimated 21.0×.
murrayproperty.com.au — Sydney Housing Market Outlook
abs.gov.au — Wage Price Index, December 2025
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