![It now takes the average Canberra household close to 10 years to save for a deposit. Picture Shutterstock It now takes the average Canberra household close to 10 years to save for a deposit. Picture Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/146508744/d5567592-544d-4f0c-9b34-d03a6c720ccb.jpg/r0_132_3970_2364_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It would take the average Canberra household nearly 10 years to save for a house deposit if starting from scratch, new data has revealed.
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It might seem like a long time, but it's a few years shorter than some other capital cities.
A housing affordability report published by ANZ and property data firm CoreLogic analysed the time taken to save for a home deposit across capital and regional markets for the March quarter.
In Canberra, the average time taken to save up a 20 per cent house deposit was 9.6 years, an improvement on 12 months ago (11.2 years) but nearly two years longer than the 10-year average.
For a deposit on a unit, Canberrans would spend 6.1 years saving. It was a slight improvement on last year's figure (6.5 years) but still longer than the decade average.
The data was based on median household income data and assumes a household saves 15 per cent of their gross household income each year.
While acknowledging 9.6 years was a "substantial" length of time, CoreLogic head of residential research Australia Eliza Owen said Canberra was still relatively more affordable compared to the national average of 10.5 years.
"It's a reflection of the fact that Canberra home values have remained fairly weak and have had a more substantial downturn than other capital cities, as well as incomes being relatively high," she said.
The report also found Canberrans would require on average 42.1 per cent of their income to pay a new mortgage on a house or 26.5 per cent for a unit.
Sydney was found to be the most unaffordable market for home ownership with the average time taken to save a house deposit 14.3 years.
Sydneysiders would also need to sacrifice 62.6 per cent of their income to service a new house loan.
Meanwhile, the average household would spend 11.4 years saving for house deposit in Melbourne and more than 10 years in Hobart, Adelaide or Brisbane.
Adding further pressure to those saving for a deposit was worsening rental affordability across much of the nation.
The report found, nationally, renters were sacrificing 30.8 per cent of their median income to pay for a new lease across houses and units combined, its highest point since mid-2014.
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The ACT was found to be one of the most affordable rental markets, with households sacrificing 26.7 per cent of median household income for rent.
Looking at lower income households painted a more concerning picture of rental affordability, Ms Owen said.
Canberrans in the lower percentile of household income were found to be spending 41 per cent of their income on rent.
"That's really where we're seeing more of the strain and where the housing affordability piece is a bit more critical," she said.
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