The quarterly report on housing affordability by the Adelaide Bank and Real Estate Institute of Australia released today recorded a 4 per cent increase in first-home buyers in SA for the period.

However, monthly housing repayments in proportion to income for a SA household climbed 1.4 per cent to 26.9 per cent of income, still under the national proportion of 31.7 per cent.

First-home buying activity compared with the same period last year was down 7.1 per cent.

“Of all Australian first-home buyers over the quarter, 6.2 per cent were from South Australia while the proportion of first-home buyers of South Australia’s owner-occupier market was 15 per cent,” the report stated.

The average loan for a first home in SA during the quarter was $266,267, an increase of 3.2 per cent.

Housing loans increased by 3.1 per cent to 7199, up 2.6 per cent rise compared with the same period last year.

The average SA home loan was $288,477, an increase of 6.1 per cent over the September quarter and 6.2 per cent compared with 12 months ago.

Adelaide Bank general manager Damian Percy said the ACT remained the most affordable city relative to income with an improvement recorded in Western Australia.

“Tasmania was relatively stable with affordability declining in all other states.

“Nationally, the average loan size increased 3.8 per cent to $347,367 for the quarter and by 9 per cent compared to the same time last year.”