House prices in Australia have risen by nearly 150 percent over the past decade while earnings have only increased by just over one-third of that rate. These figures are revealed in the following summary of research commissioned from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) on housing stress in Australia. Homeownership continues to be out of reach for many young people and is increasingly a burden for low and middle-income households who have stretched their household finances to get a foothold in the property market. NATSEM’s figures are derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2009-10, and calculate rates of housing stress defined as households with the lowest 40 percent of equivalized household incomes who spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. This doesn’t just have consequences for the individual families. Frustrated would-be home buyers who are forced to stay in the rental market for longer add to the competition for available properties, pushing up rental prices. In the last five years, rents have risen 49 percent across the country, with Darwin topping the list at 80 per.  Rents have increased much faster than incomes, placing more strain on low-income households and making it harder for others to save for home deposits.