Researchers urge NSW action on teacher housing as Sydney prices hit 14 times top teacher salary

Australia’s teacher shortage is colliding with Sydney’s soaring property market, with researchers warning that housing costs are now outpacing salaries to a degree that is pushing educators out of the profession. A team led by Professor Scott Eacott at UNSW Sydney says median house prices in the city are now more than 13 times a teacher’s salary, and calculates they sit at 14 times the top of the teacher pay scale as of February.

within a reasonable commute of their schools. Eacott said the issue had been left in the “too‑hard basket” and fallen through policy cracks, noting the project was driven by teachers who told the team they could not keep working at their schools because housing was unaffordable or commutes were too long.

The researchers place the current squeeze in historical context: in 1970, the median house sold for $18,000, around three times the top of the teacher salary scale. By February this year, Sydney’s median house price had reached $1,820,000—14 times the same benchmark and beyond what they describe as an affordable threshold.

They found 56 per cent of local government areas in New South Wales have median house values unaffordable for top‑earning teachers, and 90 per cent of advertised teaching positions are in LGAs out of reach for those on a single teacher salary. For those trying to buy, the numbers are stark.

Based on median prices as of June last year—$1,722,443 for a house and $834,791 for a unit—the team estimates it would take a new graduate teacher and a housemate on a median salary 22 years to save a 20 per cent deposit for a house, or 12 years for a unit, assuming prices and salaries do not change.

They put the affordability gap between salaries and housing costs for NSW teachers at $11.8 billion. Renting is little relief. With low vacancy rates, the researchers say graduate teachers could not afford even a one‑bedroom rental in 47 per cent of LGAs based on median rents.

Many are pushed to the urban fringe, absorbing long daily trips: the average NSW teacher completes a 23.1 km round trip to work each day, incurring about $4,200 in annual costs before tolls. That commute time equates to roughly 140 hours—or 4.5 weeks of teaching—spent on the road each year.

The housing strain is feeding into workforce pressures. The team cites a shortfall of 1,200 teachers across the state. Sixty‑one per cent of schools—and 73 per cent in disadvantaged areas—report daily operations are hindered by staffing issues, with an estimated 10,000 lessons a day going uncovered in NSW.

Eacott said schools in traditionally desirable parts of Sydney, including the northern beaches and south‑eastern suburbs, are now particularly vulnerable, receiving little policy attention historically because educators have wanted to work there, even as prices have become almost unattainable without intergenerational wealth.

The researchers contend that addressing housing for teachers must become a policy priority alongside pay and workload reforms. Without affordable options within reasonable commuting distance, they argue, efforts to stabilise the workforce and improve student learning are likely to falter.