The Reserve Bank has left itself room to start normalising the cost of mortgages as record-low interest rates helped drive Australian house values up by $2 trillion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The RBA board held the cash rate at 0.1 per cent for a 13th consecutive month yesterday while official figures revealed cheap money had delivered huge paper windfalls to those able to get into the property market.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the value of the nation’s residential properties lifted 21.7 per cent over the past year to be worth a combined $9.3 trillion. It increased by $487 billion in the September quarter alone to be $2 trillion up on March last year.

The hot NSW property market accounted for 40 per cent of the rise, with values in the state swelling by $800 billion to $3.7 trillion.

In Victoria, they have climbed by $500 billion to $2.6 trillion.

But the surge in values has also forced buyers to take on record mortgages. Indeed, senior economist Callam Pickering said the dwelling price-to-income ratio was now at 7.2 times the average income, up from 5.8 in March last year. The ratio had been steady between 5.6 and 5.8 times the average income between 2017 and 2020.

Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison said people were rightly growing concerned about the future of home ownership.

‘‘While low interest rates have no doubt led to higher house prices, the combination of chronic undersupply, excessive taxes and charges, and inefficient planning systems have also unnecessarily exaggerated the cost of housing,’’ he said.

There are early signs the lift in prices is coming to an end. Commonwealth Bank data released yesterday showed its measure of home-buying intentions fell 27.5 per cent in November to be down 17.6 per cent over the past year.

A key factor in the price surge has been low interest rates, which the RBA has used to protect the economy from the COVID-19 recession. The bank has been signalling it would not start lifting interest rates until 2024, but following its last board meeting of the year it left open the option of moving earlier.

RBA governor Philip Lowe said the bank would not move until it clearly saw wages growth.

‘‘The board will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2 to 3 per cent target range. This will require the labour market to be tight enough to generate wages growth that is materially higher than it is currently,’’ he said. ‘‘This is likely to take some time and the board is prepared to be patient.’’

The bank is sticking with its $4 billion-a-week bond-buying program until February, by which time it will hold about $350 billion in federal and state government debt.

BIS Oxford Economics chief Australia economist Sarah Hunter said the RBA was likely to lift rates much sooner than its previous 2024 target.

‘‘While a cash rate rise in 2022 looks unlikely ... the data does suggest that rate rises will be warranted in early 2023,’’ she said.