First home buyers have the perfect opportunity now to buy their first property

First-home buyers should seriously consider buying property as market conditions make now a great time to make the home ownership dream come true.

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Millennials believe the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed them to get much closer to buying their first home, a new report has found.

One in two millennial home buyers (those aged 24 to 39) are now hopeful they can get the keys to their first home within the next one to two years as a result of a subdued property market.

In ING’s Future Focus: Homeownership Report it found many are making changes to fast track saving up a decent deposit including:

• 59 per cent are redirecting direct budgets towards savings.

• 37 per cent are taking on a side hustle.

• 36 per cent are moving back in with their parents.

• 50 per cent would consider living further from the city (45km of more).

ING’s head of home loans Julie-Anne Bosich said the latest findings showed first-time property buyers “haven’t given up on the great Australian dream of owning their own home”.

“They are very focused on savings and getting into home ownership,” she said.

“Covid has changed their lifestyle and it may mean they have to re-evaluate the type of home they want to buy and where, they might look at an outer area or cheaper area.”

The report found many Millennials are also making many lifestyle sacrifices to fatten their savings.

Many first-home buyers should be investigating their ability to buy property soon.

This includes limiting personal spending, reducing dining out experiences, cutting back on recreational drinking, quitting their gym membership and dating less.

There are several government initiatives also on offer to help first-time buyers crack into the market including the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

The second tranche opened up on July 1 and allows eligible borrowers with just a five per cent deposit saved up to crack into the market.

Realestate.com.au’s chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the inquiries on their site by first-time buyers had surged in recent months.

Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said traffic on their website by potential first-home buyers has surged in recent months.

“We can see that first-home inquiries are rocketing ahead across every state and capital city,” she said.

“There’s a lot of things driving it including there’s no investors around and first home buyers often compete with them.

“We also have very low interest rates so it’s cheaper to borrower and there’s lots of state government grants available.”

The FHLDS has on offer another 10,000 spots for eligible borrowers to purchase a property and it’s available through 27 lenders including the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank.

This means first-time buyers can avoid the expensive lenders’ mortgage insurance charges which they are usually hit with if they don’t have at least a 20 per cent deposit saved up.

Ms Conisbee also said the HomeBuilder Scheme for eligible first home buyers also provides a $25,000 grant to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home.

“There’s a lot around helping first-home buyers into the market at the moment,” she said.

“But the big issue of course is getting finance because although banks are saying they are open for business, but they are still very cautious around lending because of the situation of rising unemployment which is the biggest challenge for most first home buyers.”

@sophieelsworth