Sydney’s home ownership plummets to 1950s levels
Sydney homeownership levels have crashed to a 70-year low as high home prices and building shortages push more young people into becoming long-term renters.
KPMG analysis has revealed the city’s homeownership rate, which measures the total number of dwellings occupied by someone who owns the property outright or with a mortgage, slumped to 59.9 per cent in the past year.
This was a drop from the 61.1 per cent ownership rate in 2021 and the lowest level since the 1950s.
KPMG Urban Economist Terry Rawnsley noted that the drop in home ownership had occurred despite considerable government investment in homebuyer support packages.
“Sydney has gone backwards on home ownership by more than half a century,” Mr Rawnsley said.
“There’s lots of schemes like the first home by deposit scheme, which I think is a good one across the country, but the challenge for Sydney is it just hasn’t produced enough houses over the last 20 years.
“First homebuyers in Sydney are really just being constricted in the number of properties that they can even look to try and buy, even before affordability comes in.”
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Source: KPMG
The analysis combined Census and ABS housing survey statistics with rental bond data to estimate owner-occupier rates, revealing the harbour city’s rates were vastly different to the rest of the country.
There was an uptick in home ownership rates across Western Australia (69.2 per cent in 2021 to 69.9 in 2025) and Queensland (63.9 per cent in 2021 to 64.9 per cent in 2025) while Victoria held steady at 68.7 per cent.
Nationally, this dropped from 66.3 per cent in 2021 to 65.9 per cent in 2025, a decline predominantly driven by Sydney and Regional New South Wales, with many younger homebuyers being locked out of the housing market.
The data also revealed between 2021 and 2025, the number of renter households in Greater Sydney increased from 703,553 to 786,802, an increase of more than 83,000 households (+11.8 per cent).
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KPMG Urban Economist Terry Rawnsley noted that the drop in home ownership had occurred despite considerable government investment in homebuyer support packages
Over the same period, the share of households renting rose from 36.8 per cent to 37.9 per cent, meaning that almost two in every five households are now renting from landlords.
This was further underlined by home ownership average annual growth rate in Greater Sydney for 2025 at 1.6 per cent per year with those renting growing at almost twice this number with a 2.8 per cent increase.
While those who are locked out of ownership turn to renting, Sydney’s median rent continues to rise to new highs increasing to an $800 per week median in June, sitting at $850 per week for houses.
Mr Rawnsley said the increase in renters reflects those who cannot afford housing, but also a leading indicator of that rent increases we’re seeing at the moment.
“There’s just so many households fighting over a limited number of rental properties in NSW,” he said.
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Home ownership average annual growth rate in Greater Sydney for 2025 sat at 1.6 per cent per year with those renting growing at almost twice this number with a 2.8 per cent increase. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers
Mr Rawnsley said historically Sydney has seen an internal migration trend of those who are priced out of Sydney moving to other states, adding this is now more skewed towards the younger generation, those in their 20s and 30s.
“In the past, you might have people living in Sydney who were 55 or 60 moving to the Gold Coast to retire, now it’s probably more that younger cohort are going, God, I’ll never afford a home in Sydney,” he said.
“I can take my job and go to Brisbane or Wagga or wherever, and actually better afford to be able to buy a house.”
LJ Hooker Head of Research Mathew Tiller said the figures highlight the affordability challenges in Sydney both for homeowners and renters.
“Since 2021 we’ve seen mortgage rates rise significantly from the record lows, strong population growth has increased demand for housing and supply of new homes being built, just hasn’t kept pace,” he said.
LJ Hooker Head of Research Mathew Tiller said the fundamental challenge was building homes that keep pace with population growth
“As a result, more people are renting for longer and that has put pressure on both home ownership rates and the rental market as well.”
Mr Tiller said building homes to keep pace with population growth is the fundamental challenge, not just in Sydney, but most of Australia.
“We’re obviously still seeing population growth, that has moderated a bit but still hasn’t come down enough to surpass the supply that’s coming into the market,” he said.
“What we are seeing is a period of softer price growth, which will help with the affordability, but it doesn’t help those first homebuyers that are looking to get into the market and are currently renting because we have a period where undersupply of homes is causing rents to outpace wage growth and inflation as well.
“Saving for a deposit if you are a renter is another really challenging aspect of home ownership in Sydney.”