Build a real-time mortgage affordability tracker
Compose RBA cash rate, ABS wage growth, ABS residential property prices, and APRA monthly housing loan data into a single affordability index, refreshed every release. ausdata.io exposes each input as JSON and ships a derived real-cash-rate endpoint so you do not have to wire CPI in yourself.
The problem
Affordability requires four data sources updated on different cadences: RBA cash rate after each board meeting, ABS WPI quarterly, ABS RPPI quarterly, APRA MADIS monthly. Stitching them together by hand means four scraping pipelines that break independently.
The fix
Pull each series in one HTTP call, join on period, and write a single formula. ausdata.io's webhooks notify you when any input refreshes so the index updates within minutes of the official release, not days.
Endpoints used
Code
const KEY = process.env.AUSDATA_KEY;
const H = { Authorization: `Bearer ${KEY}` };
const BASE = "https://api.ausdata.io";
async function affordabilityIndex() {
const [rate, wages, prices] = await Promise.all([
fetch(`${BASE}/v1/real-cash-rate`, { headers: H }).then(r => r.json()),
fetch(`${BASE}/v1/data/abs/WPI?sector=Private&limit=1`, { headers: H }).then(r => r.json()),
fetch(`${BASE}/v1/data/abs/RPPI?city=Sydney&limit=1`, { headers: H }).then(r => r.json()),
]);
const realRate = rate.data.real_cash_rate_pct;
const wageGrowth = wages.data[0].wpi_yoy_pct;
const priceGrowth = prices.data[0].yoy_pct;
return { realRate, wageGrowth, priceGrowth,
affordabilityGap: wageGrowth - priceGrowth - realRate };
}Steps
- 1
Pull the four inputs
Cash rate, wage growth, house price growth, and housing loan volumes. Each is a single GET with one bearer token.
- 2
Join on period
Quarterly series align cleanly. For the monthly cash rate, take the latest value at quarter end.
- 3
Compute the index
A simple formula: real wage growth minus real house price growth minus real cash rate. Tune the weights for your audience.
- 4
Subscribe to Pulse webhooks
Get a POST when any underlying series refreshes so the index updates within minutes of the release.
Other use cases
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