Of the 39 housing markets studied in Australia, all were rated as either "seriously" or "severely" unaffordable, based on median house price to annual household income ratios of more than four times.
The average ratio for all Australian markets is 5.6 times, which rises to 6.5 times in the large capital cities.
The report said a lack of competitively priced land was helping drive up prices.
"Overwhelming economic evidence indicates that urban containment policies, especially urban growth boundaries, raise the price of housing relative to income. This inevitably leads to a reduced standard of living and increases poverty rates, because the unnecessarily higher costs of housing leave households with less discretionary income to spend on other goods and services," the report said.
"The higher costs ripple into rental markets, tightening the budgets of lower income households who already suffer from lower discretionary incomes."
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