I completely agree. I just find it amusing that older generations can't understand why younger generations choose to make the other sacrifice: have the overseas travel and the nice food instead of the "Australian dream" of home ownership.
Take a look at overseas gen Y-ers. A lot of Europeans don't want to own a house for a number of reasons. They need flexibility.
So we agree that the media beat up about young people and affordable housing is just that, a media beat up? If you want to own a home in Sydney, regardless of your age, you need to get a job that pays well and sacrifice some lifestyle choices. Or raid the parent bank. It's been the same message for generations, the only difference now is that younger people have a whole world of opportunity that was not available to older Australians when they were younger. As a result there is going to be an increasing level of pressure upon them as to what they are willing to sacrifice if they want to pursue the Great Australian dream. They've got cheap travel, a huge array of jobs, fantastic cars, entertainment 24/7, craft beer that's affordable all clamouring for their attention and hard earned.
Nailed it. Although in Sydney now is of course less affordable to 5 years ago. Wages haven't gone anywhere, but houses prices have almost doubled. But that's the just the top of the cycle for you, you couldn't have said the same thing 5 years ago when the Sydney house prices had been basically flat for 5 straight years.
Not entirely: where owning a home was once quite achievable for young people in earlier generations, it's now a long shot for young people today. There's no inflation genie coming to wipe out half their mortgage and it's simply not worth the effort. Spending money on traveling, dining out and gadgets is only a symptom of housing being out of reach. Gen Y are actually the best generation alive at saving money, and better than their parents were at the same age. They're just saving for holidays rather than houses. That's really unfortunate because, with a bit of effort, it was once possible for most people to have a home, a family and some nice things. Nowadays, it's pick one. Maybe two if you're really lucky. Ultimately, it's going to be a really bad thing for our cities.
A long shot because they dont even want to try. A couple on $75k each a year could pay off a decent 3br $600k house in 8 years if they really wanted to and still have $1,500 a week to play with (but that money goes into the offset). Even couple on $60k each a year could pay off the same mortgage in the same timeframe and still have $1k a week leftover. Get a tenant in and pay it down significantly quicker. In 8 years sell it and put the full amount down as deposit for a more preferable house. The catch? The entry level house isn't their ideal house
Depends where you, where you want to buy and what priorities you have. Personal anecdotes are never that compelling, but amongst the group of friends my son has (mid 20's to early 30's) there are at least half a dozen I know who own houses, probably more. Many of those young people are/were in highly paid mining jobs, I'm talking in excess of $100 000/year for doing a 12 hour shift, one week on one week off with very little in the way of formal qualifications. Some of those are now under financial stress, mostly because they have left the area of their own free will to pursue lifestyle choices down south. They still own their houses but are reliant upon tenants to help meet their mortgage obligations, not to mention most bought at the height of the market and have lost about 20% of their value in the past 5 years. And most of them take at least one overseas holiday per year not to mention enjoy a lifestyle far removed from my own spendthrift ways. Most of them are stupid. They should never have bought a house if they can't commit to it being the centre of their lives.
We're Gen Y and we just bought a 2nd owner-occupied house last week so that we can live in multiple places throughout the year for lifestyle reasons. Haven't had a really holiday for 10+ years and we drive cheap, fuel efficient cars. Its all about priorities.
