The great divide between home owners and property “have-nots” is widening fast, according to new research commissioned by the publicly listed mortgage broking firm Mortgage Choice.

More than 60 per cent of Australians believe only the wealthy can achieve the “Great Australian Dream” of home ownership, the data reveals.

Mortgage Choice and CoreData’s Evolving Great Australian Dream study found 63.2 per cent of Australians said “only people with a lot of money can hope to achieve the Australian Dream”.

Mortgage Choice chief executive John Flavell said the finding was unsurprising considering that property prices were growing faster than wages.

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Wage Price Index, wages grew 12.6 per cent between March 2012 and March 2017,” he said.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that the home ownership rate in Australia decreased to 67 per cent in 2011 from 68.9 percent in 2006. The national home ownership rate averaged 69.2 percent from 1966 until 2011, reaching an all-time high of 71.4 per cent in 1966 and a record low of 67 per cent in 2011.

Victoria’s home ownership is now at a historic low, with just 66 per cent of households owner-occupied, compared to almost 74 per cent in 2001.

Victoria is placed behind South Australia and Western Australia, but is still ahead of NSW and Queensland, on the home ownership front.

Although it is becoming increasingly difficult for some buyers to get their foot on the property ladder, Mr Flavell said the research demonstrated that property ownership remained the Great Australian Dream.

“Regardless of how difficult property ownership becomes, people still want to own a home. In fact, our research shows people rate ‘home ownership’ as more of a priority than career success, travel, or having a luxurious lifestyle,” he said.

Not surprisingly, given the downward trajectory in ownership rates, more prospective home buyers are ready to compromise in their property choices. In particular, buyers across different demographic groups are considering apartment ownership.

Mr Flavell said the ownership dream had been seen as a freestanding house on a quarter acre block in the suburbs. “Today however, that dream has evolved to include different types of dwellings, like apartments.”

He said 52,000 apartments were approved for construction nationally in 2011. By 2016, that number had jumped to more than 100,000.

Mr Flavell said the jump was clear evidence that apartments were becoming a popular property option among Australians.

“While some buyers are choosing to purchase apartments for the lifestyle options they offer, a lot of people are seeing them as a cheaper way into the market,” he noted.

“Of course, buying a cheaper dwelling isn’t the only strategy home buyers are using in order to get their foot on the property ladder.

“From the data, it is clear that Australians are keen to use a variety of purchasing strategies in order to achieve their property ownership goals.”

The study’s findings indicate that 31 per cent of Australians reduce their spending in order to save a property deposit, 24 per cent decide to buy a smaller or more affordable property, and 20 per cent aim to reduce the overall expense of purchasing property by buying with friends and family.

Mortgage Choice is a national mortgage broker with more than 350,000 customers. It negotiates home loans on behalf of customers using a loan panel of over 28 lenders. The research conducted by CoreData is based on interviews with 1043 Australians about their experiences with property.