Will millennials be able to afford the Australian dream?

REBECCA BATS

The 2016 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics (HILDA) in Australia Survey found soon half of Australian adults won’t own their own home.

The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research conducts an annual survey which shows the average income of Australian households has not grown since the global financial crisis which affects the housing affordability.

Surveying 17,000 Australians, the HILDA survey found shortly less than 50 per cent of adults will own their own home.

The survey reveals that 68.8 per cent of households were owner-occupied in 2001 with a 3.9 per cent to 64.9 per cent in 2014.

The survey also found that home ownership amongst persons aged between 25 – 34 declined from 38.7 per cent in 2002 to 29.9 per cent in 2014.

Natalie Haggett, 21, brought her house this year with her partner and says buying a house at any age is a major life decision and it is not easy at any age.

Natalie says that it doesn’t matter as much about your age but more so the persons ability to save and manage finances, job stability and other factors such as dependent children.

“For me buying an existing home meant having to save a massive deposit which seemed too unachievable so I started small and purchased the land first. Having a smaller loan meant I could see the light at the end of the tunnel sooner, the more I paid it off the smaller the loan got and after two years it was paid off,” she says.

Natalie says having a partner makes the process easier for financial support.

“We lived with my partner’s parents for the time that we were paying off the land and that helped a lot because we didn’t have to pay for food, electricity or water. We basically lived rent free and were able to put our full wages towards our loan,”

Natalie says that having a loan forced her and her partner to budget and save.

“I really believe that having a loan is a forced saving and if we didn’t just bite the bullet and buy the land we wouldn’t have ever saved enough to buy it in the two years that we paid it off in.”

“Our loan is now small and very achievable because we only got the amount we borrowed for the house to pay back,” she said.

Their mortgage repayments are $280 a week, but they pay an extra $100 a week to pay off the loan quicker.

“So for a four bedroom house $380 a week is still cheaper than most people pay in rent,” she says.

While Natalie says that buying a house is hard, it is achievable if people budget and research the best options for their budget.