What do you think is an "average" home loan amount these days???

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

We bought our 4 bedroom house 8 years ago for 295k. Same house now in this area (30km from cbd) is on average 480-540k depending on which 'pocket' of the suburb you buy in.

[Beach Mama]

Keeping in mind there's a difference in mortgage amount and house price.... I would imagine most people would have at least a 10 per cent deposit. Houses in my suburb have a median price of around $550k (35km from city) so imagine average mortgages would be $450-500k.

Good point, we were chatting as owners changing over to our 4th property with a substantial amount in the bank. First home owners would be different I guess but still having a 10% deposit and starting a bit smaller.

Our first property was purchased in Bayswater for 100k about 15 years ago and sold for 260. Crazy.

[wysiwyg]

I do think people answers also different depending on whether looking to buy first or recently bought first in past couple of years compared to subsequent purcahses or if bought more than seven years ago - with first groups definition of average being higher than second.

In UK they always said three times household annual income was about right for mortgage (not house price)- so in my mind I classify anything above that as high, with that as average. Any direct comparisons are a bit futile IMO because of the massive variation in house prices across country. Our mortgage is 350k I class it as high because is just over the 3 times rule when I am working, but entering the housing market for first time in past couple of years in melbourne and sydney can be quite difficult to stick to three times rule.

[chody47]

As N2L said, there is a difference between mortgage amount and house prices. I think I read recently that the average mortgage is somewhere in the 300s (don't remember the exact amount). Yes, some areas are much more expensive, but as others have said, I guess you'd generally expect that people buying in those areas have much more deposit to put towards it.

[AnyDream]

Some hard facts, from The Year Book, 2012:

Average loan for first home buyers $281,000
Changeover home buyers average load $326,000 (figures for 2010-11 = most recent national figures).

Average amount of mortgage outstanding ($,000) 2009-10
Sydney 239
NSW bal of state $168
Melbourne $207
Vic rest of state $138
Brisbane $220
Qld rest of state $202
Adelaide $180
SA rest of state $124
Perth $232
WA rest of state $172
Hobart $140
Tas rest of state $126
Darwin $247
NT rest of state $195

[AnyDream]

Hmmm, double post.

[AnyDream]

I would like to point out that, yes, house prices might seem higher in some areas, but also that a lot of houses in my area that young couples purchase are not the typical "first home" fare. +study, +separate dining, +family room/rumpus/2nd living area, +2 door garage, +ensuite, +extra bedroom(s) are all features that are not found in starter-uppers. Interestingly though, many young people now expect their first home to have some or all of these features (AND be pretty too). In the meantime, developers & investors come through snapping up all the more modest homes, slap a cheap facelift on them, then onsell or rent at an inflated cost while laughing all the way to the bank.

I blame those bloody home renovation tv shows for selling us all a dream that is bankrupting the nation's affordable housing stock [/RANT].

[Astrid]

We are rural in a crappy old farm house, so our mortgage is only $140k, will go up to $300k when we rebuild on this block. Which is probably on par with the area and a reasonable home.

[Cassius2]

MD: this is what is happening 2 houses down. there was this 1 bedroom run-down victorian that the owners sold for about $550k!! INSANE. all the young coupkes came through, but it was too exxy for what it was so now we have 'professional renovators' that got it and are flipping it. now they will sell it for something in the mid 700k mark...kinda sucks to see ppl getting pushed out of the market like that by crazy housing prices.

back to OP...i would think that $400k would be pretty average for melbourne?? we are about that and had a 25% deposit for our 2 bdr place.

[Marley&Me]

I would say around $300-350 is average. When we buy i won't be going over $320, I still want to be able to pay a mortgage off without eating tins of baked beans for the rest of my life! Where we would be looking you can still get a nice 3 bedroom home for around that. We live about 50km from the CBD, but we have everything here, shopping centers, train station, freeway, lakes.

[megs]

Astrid i hear you. We live in a crappy old farm house. Decision is do wd renovate or rebuild. Both will cost around $300000

[Joeve]

We live in a crappy old house on acres too. I just can't at this point justify bumping our mortgage up to rebuild. Our current mortgage is well under what I would think is average. Most people we know have between 350-400k as the average.

[Astrolady]

DH and I were chatting about our previous loan and what we class as a small/big mortgage, wondering if we are delusional!! I think $300k is average anything under smallish and anything over 4 big!???

What do you think?

Yep I'd agree with that. That is what I was thinking when I read your title, but then again I am in Adelaide.

[Beach Mama]

Should have stated, in capital cities/suburbs as rural is a different kettle of fish.

ABS - from 10/11 - first home owners average mortgage amount is under 300, from memory was around 270, and changeover buyers was around 350,000 (Australian census).

Average monthly mortgage repayments are $1950 in Vic. (2011 Census).

[Olive]

300k seems like it would be average but I know it's not....400k s scary
The largest ours has been it around 250k, it's under 200k now.

[Olive]

300k seems like it would be average but I know it's not....400k s scary
The largest ours has been it around 250k, it's under 200k now.

[Phteven]

OK I'm delusional *doh*
I thought that the average might be about 500k
Round here 700k buys you a run down house with garden. For a nice house that doesn't need any improvements you'll cough up about 1m.

[Beach Mama]

OK I'm delusional *doh*
I thought that the average might be about 500k
Round here 700k buys you a run down house with garden. For a nice house that doesn't need any improvements you'll cough up about 1m.

Not delusional at all, although I guess around 3-400 while Dh and I were chatting I was actually telling him that I am surprised that it is so low, we were outer east of Melbs and our house sold for over 600k recently, and although the median in the area was more like 480 I still find 300 surprising, although as we have stated it's not the house value but mortgage amount for changeover peeps. Still though Zazou that would mean for averages around you and as you head in from where we were in Melbs it would mean most people have a mortgage of around 300-400 and are paying 400ish cash?? I know it varies a lot obviously and I am making lots of generalisations, but its interesting what some people think is a large mortgage compared to a normal or small one.

ETA: Just re-read my post and it's scatty as, can you tell I have had a Baileys? Can't go back and fix it because I have lost my train of thought