Young couple seeks out Brisbane’s outer west for first home

A young Brisbane couple are ready to defy the odds in realising the Great Australian Dream of owning their first home.

First home buyers Radiant Thomas and partner Phoebe Burrows (left to right) have saved for years to buy a property. Photo Steve Pohlner

A young Brisbane couple on the verge of being forced out of their rental are still hopeful of realising the Great Australian Dream of owning their first home.

Radiant Thomas and Phoebe Burrows have been trying to get a foot on the property ladder for about two months, and have made offers on several properties, but they soon realised inner-city Brisbane was out of their budget.
The couple recently placed an offer on a Doolandella townhouse in Brisbane’s outer west.

“We have been looking in Logan and the outer suburbs of Brisbane as purchasing in the inner city is near impossible for us,” Mr Thomas said.

“We have always wanted to buy land and build a house, but it has always been unobtainable.

“Our current rental in Cannon Hill is being put up for sale, and we were faced with two possibilities of an owner occupier moving in or our rent going up from $460 to $580, which is a little bit too high.

“We both decided instead of renting, we wanted our rent to go towards a mortgage.”

Mr Thomas said he thought the Great Australian Dream of owning a home was still attainable, but due to the low number of listings, it was more challenging than ever.

“Purchasing a townhouse is our first stepping stone, then we want to get land and buy, ideally in Springfield,” he said. “If money was no object, we’d look closer to Brisbane.

“With the current interest rates, even if we could borrow enough to do what we wanted to do, we couldn’t service the loan, and the repayment would be too high.

“The only thing we could realistically achieve was purchasing an apartment or a townhouse.

“After we have lived in it for a while and built, we would rent the townhouse out.”
Ms Burrows said the process of buying a property was a challenge.
“At one point we went to about eight inspections and we had a few days where we had to leave work early, it was very time consuming,” she said.
“Radiant and I have been together for about four years now, we were both very fortunate to live in at my parents house for two years to save

“We’ve always had the intention of wanting to get in the property market sooner rather than later.”

Ms Burrows said she always thought herself and Mr Thomas could achieve buying their first home.
“I always believed we could do it and although our parents haven’t contributed money were were able to live with my parents,” she said.
“It has been quite a privilege and a huge factor to our success, it probably would have taken double the time if we hadn’t.”

Property agent Jessicca Gerretzen from Harcourts Connections said despite negativity in the market, there were options for first homebuyers in parts of southeast Queensland — especially the Logan region.

“The doom and gloom of the market that is out there at the moment aren‘t as bad as what the media is portraying,” Ms Gerretzen said.

“The period over the last two years saw renters pushed out of a comfortable space where our tenants and young people have been left behind.

“This market has made it possible for first home buyers to come into the market and be at the same buying level as investors.”

Ms Gerretzen said her first homebuyer market was outperforming her investor market.

“Springfield Lakes, Eagleby, South Brisbane, areas previously considered lower demographic suburbs are being looked at as promotable living,” she said.