If you're struggling to get your foot into the housing market, you're not alone: Wollongong housing is less affordable than glamour towns such as New York City, Tokyo and Miami.
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These are the results of a report by US-based public policy group Demographia, and the results make sober reading for would-be Illawarra homebuyers.
In an analysis of 360 cities worldwide, Wollongong has been ranked 334th for affordability, while Australia on the whole was rated as "severely unaffordable", with 25 cities falling into that category.
With a median house price of $430,000 and a median household income of $61,900, Wollongong registers a "median multiple" of 6.9 - the typical house costs almost seven times the typical household income.
It was the least affordable of the eight developed countries surveyed.
But that's not stopping Australians building huge houses, with an average new house size of 220 square metres, second only to the US.
Darwin is listed at No.329, marginally more affordable than Wollongong. But Darwin's median house price of $673,000 is countered by its $103,600 median income.
Sydney is still worse than Wollongong, ranked 354 out of 360 for affordability, with a median house price of $722,700. This, like Wollongong, has increased since the data was taken.
But Sydney's prices have knock-on effects for Wollongong's affordability, says Illawarra Regional Information Service executive director Simon Pomfret.
He said Sydney investors could turn to Wollongong for more affordable investments, pushing Illawarra prices up even more.
"We are now getting that Sydney influence on our prices, because people in Sydney see Wollongong as an alternative, more affordable area - but that is starting now to add significant pressures to our overall median prices," he said.
"The people who may be buying in Wollongong, who are affording those high prices, are probably working in Sydney anyway, and earning Sydney salaries ... particularly in the northern suburbs.
"They're happy to pay that price for a Wollongong property because it's less than they could get one for in Sydney, but it's adding pressure to our overall house prices."
The 2014 report used figures taken from September 2013 data, and since then Wollongong's median house price has increased to about $530,000.
Household incomes have not increased on a pace with house prices, Mr Pomfret said.
This would mean housing affordability will have taken a sharp turn for the worse since this Demographia research was completed, and many people may be priced out of the market altogether.
"First home buyers [and] the working poor, the old middle class, it's almost impossible now unless you can get a nest egg you can put down as a deposit, and get some equity.
"That inequality's going to continue and that two-tiered society's going to get worse I think."
Mr Pomfret said he was not surprised about Wollongong's overall ranking, as prices were starting to catch up with Sydney.
He said in the next 10-15 years the Wollongong market would be just as expensive as Sydney.
