Taking the plunge

AT 19-years-old Alice Hodgkinson is already fed up with the rental market and is getting ready to buy her first home.

Alice Hodgkinson (with her daughter Piper Lloyd) is ready to open the door to her own home. Picture: Candyce Braithwaite

AT 19-years-old Alice Hodgkinson is already fed up with the rental market and is getting ready to buy her first home.

With her fiancé by her side, she is trying to save enough money for a deposit.

New research recently has revealed that Generation Y is more confident about buying a house and is ready to take the plunge into the market.

Latest CBA/Mortgage and Finance Association of Australian research found current high rents meant two-thirds of first-time home buyers were re-evaluating the trade-off between renting and buying.

For Miss Hodgkinson the decision is easy.

She's been renting for three years and decided she wanted to stop paying off someone else's home.

"Over the last three years I feel like I have thrown away a lot of money," Miss Hodgkinson said.

"I would feel much more comfortable about putting the money towards my own home.

"My fiancé and I would be able to afford the repayments, it's just being able to save for the deposit that's hard."

Helen Harm, of Helen Harm Real Estate, said Generation Y needed to seek professional financial advice before driving into the market.

"I think it's important for Generation Y to sit down with a professional and discuss the costs of purchasing a home," Mrs Harm said.

"It's not just as easy as finding a home you like and signing the paperwork.

"First of all they need to think about the deposit, it's 10% of the cost of the home, then they need to think about rates and insurance."

Mrs Harm said Generation Y needed to experience the real world before deciding to buy their own homes.

Originally published as Taking the plunge