Where you can buy a home in the two biggest cities in Australia without the Bank of Mum and Dad

Aussie homebuyers not relying on the Bank of Mum and Dad are being pushed further out from the inner suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne, new data shows. 

A couple earning $125,021 each who had saved a 20 per cent deposit would have to look far from Sydney CBD, to areas like the Central Coast, Penrith, Liverpool and Campbelltown, according to figures from CoreLogic and Canstar. 

If they worked in the CBD their average commute from their new home would be 41km. 

But they could get closer to the CBD if they compromised with a unit, in areas such as Edgecliff, Parramatta and Sutherland. 

A couple with one low-income earner and one average-income earner could afford a house in Penrith, Jamisontown, Liverpool and Campbelltown.

For high-income singles, only one suburb made the affordability cut: San Remo on the northern Central Coast. But units were affordable in areas like the Central Coast, Mount Druitt, St Marys, Penrith, Fairfield West. 

A low-income single could afford a unit far from the CBD, in places like Mount Colah, Woy Woy and Umina Beach.

Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said the affordability problem was an ‘absolute catastrophe for social cohesion’.

‘Those with low incomes live on the outskirts of town, have a longer commute to work and spend less time with family,’ Mr Kuestenmacher said. 

MortgageWorks director Anthony Roddy said up to 30 per cent of his clients didn’t have cash gifts, but they were ‘willing to make bigger sacrifices to get on the ladder’.

‘They may purchase a one-bedroom unit with the view to move on in three to five years’ time,’ Mr Roddy said.  

It was a similar story in Melbourne, although buyers there were not quite so locked out of the inner city. 

A high-income couple could afford a house in Windsor, Collingwood or Brunswick. 

Many of the desirable suburbs near the CBD, however, were too expensive – unless the couple opted for a unit, in which case all suburbs were affordable. 

Kensington, Flemington and Footscray were the closest house options for a couple where one member earned an average income of about $100,000 and the other a lower income of about $75,000. 

A high-earning couple with no cash gifts from mum and dad would have to look far from Sydney’s CBD to buy a house

CoreLogic’s head of Australian research Eliza Owen said she was worried that unaffordable housing was pushing people into relationships. 

‘Obviously, you don’t want to be pressured to be in a relationship to access housing,’ she said. 

‘I think in an ideal world people would live with others as a choice rather than a necessity.’

Homelessness has surged across NSW as the state’s housing crisis pushes an increasing number of people onto the streets.

The annual street count, released in May, revealed a 25 per cent spike in the tally of people sleeping rough statewide. 

In recent months the housing market has cooled off in Sydney – at the same time that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was trying to sell his Sydney investment townhouse.

Mr Albanese sold his Dulwich Hill investment property for $1.75 million on Friday. 

He had dropped the price by $150,000 after it spent months on the market without a buyer. 

The three-bedroom property was last sold for $1,175,000 in 2015 and property values in the area have skyrocketed by 92.8 per cent since then.

The prime minister earlier this year revealed he had purchased a new clifftop home in the Central Coast’s Copacabana for $4.3 million in preparation for his new life with fiancée Jodie Haydon.