WHAT has five digits and can buy a luxury sports car?

It may sound like the lead up to a joke, but the answer is no laughing matter — it’s the mammoth $72,699 shortfall between Sydney’s average household income and how much one would need to earn before tax to comfortably afford a median priced house.

Figures from comparison site Finder.com.au show that a family purchasing a house at Sydney’s median price of $745,000 would need to earn $155,499 a year to avoid spending more than 29 per cent of their income on housing costs — the requirement banks normally demand to issue a home loan.

But the figure is almost double the average Sydney household pre-tax income of $82,500, leaving would-be buyers of average homes more than $72,000 short.

The data was calculated with the assumption of a 10 per cent deposit on the purchase price and a 30-year loan term at a variable rate.

Finder.com.au spokeswoman Michelle Hutchison said the income requirement for purchasing a median priced home in some of Sydney’s eastern suburbs makes for scary reading.

“To afford a house in Point Piper, Sydney’s most expensive suburb, you’d need a gross annual income of over $1.6 million because the median house price is $7.8 million,” Ms Hutchison said.

Point Piper may seem an extreme example, but even purchasing a median priced apartment in suburbs such as Strathfield and Parramatta would be beyond the means of many Sydneysiders.

A median priced Strathfield apartment of $631,000 would require $131,662 in annual household income — a median priced Parramatta apartment ($500,000) would require $104,328 in earnings.

Ms Hutchison said households willing to spend more than a third of their income on housing costs could buy into pricier areas on lower incomes, but this option has become increasingly difficult as banks come under pressure to be cautious with their lending.

And while the exorbitant cost of buying a home has barred many buyers from getting a toehold into the real estate market, others are getting creative.

First homebuyers Fernanda and Felipe Cuozzo from Rhodes decided to purchase an apartment off-the-plan in Bluestone Property development Woolooware Bay, realising that the year it will take to get built will give them additional time to save.

“It’s not impossible to find a home that’s within your means. It just takes a while,” Mr Cuozzo said.