5% real wages fall: property gap widens

Australian living standards are under the microscope: real wages are down 5% over five years, GDP per person is up just 4% this decade, and per capita incomes have been flat for nearly eight years. Markets snapshot: - Sydney flat to slightly negative for the week; Melbourne down 0.3% monthly - Brisbane up 0.8%; Adelaide up 1%; Perth up 0.5% - Clearance rates: Sydney 62, Melbourne 59, both below the 65% benchmark - In the $400,000 to $700,000 band, we’re still seeing six to eight bidders per property Jacob breaks down why falling labour income is increasing the value of scarce capital stock — and why well-selected residential property remains the asset to watch. Get the free Top Five Markets Report: https://ripe.house/brief-livingstandards. Disclaimer: this video is general information only and does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs.

Australian real wages have fallen 5% in five years, the GDP per person has risen just 4% this entire decade and the former head of the RBA says there's been a zero growth in per capita incomes for nearly eight years. The AFR calls it the worst living standards in a century. Today we break down why this is happening and why it might be the most important property story of 2026. Markets first, CoreLogic's daily index, Sydney flat to slightly negative for the week, Melbourne down 0.3% monthly, still gently correcting. Brisbane up 0.8%, strongest east coast capital, supply crunch still driving. Adelaide up 1%, fastest of the five majors, ultra low listings. Perth up 0.5%, decelerating from the mid-2023 peak. Clearance rates, Sydney 62, Melbourne 59 are both below the 65% benchmark. Listings are building, sellers returning, the top end is softening, but in the four to $700,000 band, we're still seeing six to eight bidders per property. First home buyers and entry-level investors fighting for the same limited stock. Today's financial review front page, standard of living worst in a century. Deputy economics editor Michael Reid reports that GDP per person has risen just 4% this decade, the 2020s are tracking to be the weakest decade for living standards since the 1910s. Not a recession stat, a generational one. The OECD confirmed in early July, Australian real wages down 5% over five years at one of the worst outcomes of all 38 member countries. Your pay packet buys 5% less than it did before the pandemic. And this isn't just inflation, it's structural context. In the 1960s per capita, GDP grew 3.2% a year. 70s, 1.8. 80s, 2%. 90s, 2.4. The Great Australian prosperity machine, then the 2000s, 1.6. The 2010s, just 0.6% annually. The 2020s so far, 0.7% annualised, about 4% total. That is a 70 year deceleration to a near standstill. The ABS national accounts for March 2026 show through the year per capita growth of just 1%. The engine that lifted three generations has stalled. Against our peers, it's worse. Australian real wages minus 5% over five years. OECD average plus one and a half. Australia ranks in the bottom five. The United States, Canada, Britain, all saw real wages grow. Our problem, productivity. GDP per hour worked, grew 1.5% annually from 1990 to 2019. Since 2020, just 0.4%. The ABS says through the year productivity growth to March 2026 was 0.3%, a rounding error. Former RBA Governor Philip Lowe, who saw this from inside the central bank for seven years, said it bluntly yesterday. Quote, our living standards have stagnated. There has been no net growth in per capita incomes for seven or eight years, after per capita income rising 1.5% a year for nearly three decades. This is the fundamental economic problem the country faces. End quote. Then Lowe made the property connection. He said the country's capital stock, the physical assets that underpin the economy, has not kept up with population growth. And that is hurting us all. To change it, he said, we require businesses to invest. Capital stock is homes, it's infrastructure, it's the physical stuff that turns population into prosperity instead of congestion. Australia's population has grown 2.4% annually since borders reopened, among the fastest in the developed world. But dwelling investment sits around five and a half percent of GDP and below the long run average. The National Housing Accord estimates a shortage of about 200,000 dwellings. When the capital stock, especially housin