Almost half of Sydney-siders interviewed by the Sydney Business Chamber believe that one needs to have an income of at least $100k to live comfortably in Sydney.
In a 2007 the same poll produced very different results. Only 24 % of those interviewed thought it was necessary to earn $100,000 to live well in Sydney.
In the new poll, 15 per cent of respondents said they earned six figures.
That’s over twice the national percentage, with the ATO saying just 6 per cent of Australians had a taxable income of more than $100,000 a year.
Only 20 of NSW’s nearly 900 postcodes – that’s 2.2 per cent – had an average income of more than $100,000 in 2007-08, the most recent tax statistics available. And all those are in Sydney.
Point Piper in the east led the way with an average of $186,000, with the northside Mosman next at $156,000. At the bottom of the $100,000 club was Birchgrove in the Inner West.
Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe said the percentage of the city’s population earning more than $100,000 was smaller than most people realised.
But for 75 per cent of the 304 respondents to the chamber’s survey, Sydney was continually becoming less and less affordable irrespective of their income.
Growing home loan repayments were a key reason for the response received, Ms Forsythe said. Such costs had increased about 17 per cent since September.
“People who don’t do well are often those in the public sector where it doesn’t matter if you’re in Wagga Wagga, Gulargambone or Sydney – if you’re a first-year teacher you earn the same,” she said. “In the private sector, salaries are reflective of the fact many companies benchmark against other cities and know that they do have to pay more to hold their skilled workforce.”