The problem is that percentages still only go up to 100. If housing now costs a larger percentage of people's income, plus everything else is more expensive too, that's a huge problem, and a noticeable decrease in standard of living.
Might not be the case in Australia, but it certainly exists.
But everything else is definitely not more expensive. If you compare household spend from now to, say, the early 60s, most consumer goods are much cheaper on a relative basis, e.g most people spend a heck of a lot less as a percentage of income for things like food, clothing, appliances, etc. It's primarily housing and service costs (education and health care) that have skyrocketed.