Opinion: Will Gen Z ever fulfil the ‘Great Australian Dream’ of owning a home?

In today’s economy you need a lot more money to buy than ever before, but let us not sell our kids short by telling them not to try, writes Kendall Gilding

My idea of “having made it” is a big house with a large kitchen, open-plan living and a sprawling deck. There would be plenty of room to entertain, and a space to host my relatives when they visit from Cairns. That’s it!

I want to be surrounded by people I love, to cook, spend time at home and make memories.

Ever since I was a late teen, I dreamt of owning my own home.

Maybe I’m young enough to remember the “Great Australian Dream” but also old enough to know it was never going to look how I imagined. Because in 2025 it’s a lofty goal!

The chasm between dreaming and owning grows wider every year and the rhetoric around how future generations will ever own a home gets louder and louder.

But I wonder if we’re doing them a disservice by continually saying they won’t be able to afford a house? If we say it once they hear it, if we say it twice they believe it, if we say it three times they may become it?

I was recently speaking with an Australian Olympian and he told me that in an ideal world he’d like to “be the bank” for his children when they look to buy a home.

He’d loan them the money and they would pay him back in full, over weekly instalments.

My first thought was “must be nice”, but the truth is on a $750,000 loan you could pay on average almost another $750,000 just in interest.

So, avoiding the traditional banking system is a massive benefit! However most parents will never have that kind of cash.

Maybe there’s a tinge of jealousy too, for those of us who had to forego overseas holidays, a designer handbag, or a brand-new car.

We were told if we wanted a property we had to save. And so we did. For five years, diligently putting our goal ahead of our other desires.

My husband and I broke into the property market with a small unit.

Kendall Gilding at her home. Picture: Richard Walker

At the time, the repayments were cheaper than rent so we felt rather smug after years of saving for a deposit while also paying rent. We made the purchase without any help from our parents. Not a single dollar. Not a guarantor. Nothing.

We’ve all heard people say “back in my day interest rates were 17 per cent”. It’s truly an unfathomable amount! But property was also cheaper in relation to wages. In 1990 when those interest rates peaked, the average Australian earned about $520 a week.

The median Brisbane house price was around $110,000.

In December 2024, the median Brisbane house price cracked more than a million dollars.

If wages were to keep up with that growth, the average salary would need to be roughly $4700 a week! The math isn’t mathing!

The most used phrase in 2025 will be “cost of living”. The horse has bolted and we’re trying to lasso it back.

But is the best advice for the next generation to simply give up? Do we really want them to throw in the towel before they’ve started the fight? But if all they’re told is that homeownership is out of reach, why would they consider it?

A 22-year-old friend recently showed me it’s possible to get into the market. He’s an accountant (point taken – you’d expect he’d be good with money).

He saved a deposit while living at home, and bought a unit in the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Nundah. It had tenants on a current lease, so they stayed in the property and it now acts as an investment until he’s able to move in.

It was savvy buying for the young man and gets him his first little home.

There’s nothing wrong with renting either, in fact there’s a strong economic case to be made for the money you’d save in interest. This column is only 750 words so I don’t have time to lay out the pros of “rent-vesting”.

But owning your home is proven to provide stability. A roof over your head that you can count on!

You’re not at the whim of a landlord. You can’t be evicted when they see an opportunity for more rent. It’s a kind of security that money can’t buy.

Sadly, in today’s economy you need a lot more money to buy than ever before, but let us not sell our kids short by telling them not to try.

Home is where you make it, but wouldn’t it be nice if by the time they retire – they own the home too!