17-year-old Gabriella is already saving to buy her first home, and she isn’t far off

Gabriella has been saving with hopes to buy her first home some time after she finishes high school. And thanks to her mum’s advice, she’s not far off.

Gabriella Bakos is regularly adding to her savings in hopes of buying a home in the near future.

High school student Gabriella Bakos is on her way to being able to buy her first home before her 21st birthday.

The 17-year-old makes sure to regularly add to a savings bank account from her part-time job, and is also investing in shares.

“Whenever I get a paycheck, I’ll usually put aside around $200 at a time, especially over the summer holidays when I was making heaps more,” she said.

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While a mortgage seemed somewhat scary, she said she’d always wanted to buy a home as young as she could.

And with a modest inheritance boosting her savings she’s already close to having enough for a 5 per cent deposit that, with the assistance of government programs, could help her get a foot on the property ladder in the near future.

“The idea that I could buy a house quite soon sounds really appealing to me,” Gabriella said.

“But no one (my age) ever really talks about buying a home because it just seems so far off.”

Gabriella‘s mum, buyer’s advocate Cate Bakos, has taught her that there are plenty ways of getting on the property ladder

Gabriella’s mum, financially-savvy buyer’s advocate Cate Bakos said her daughter’s bank balance was growing nicely and they had started talking about her purchasing an “entry-level property”.

“It will likely be a two-bedroom apartment near home; she’s already more than halfway there,” Ms Bakos said.

“She’s always talked about wanting to have her first place pretty young and I think she’s on track, probably younger than I was.”

When Gabriella’s grandma passed away she inherited around $5000, which was put into an exchange-traded fund for her.

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“She saw how that grew and then got a job and wanted to add to it,” Ms Bakos said.

The high school student added that if more people knew about government incentives available to young buyers and what they could do with their money, it could push more of them onto a path to home ownership sooner.

Her $22,000 goal for an initial deposit could be enough for young person to buy a home with a combination of government programs.

The federal government’s First Home Guarantee allows them to avoid the need to save a full 20 per cent initial payment.

The Victorian government’s stamp duty waiver program for first homes bought under $600,000 would also mean no tax obligations upfront.

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Originally published as 17-year-old Gabriella is already saving to buy her first home, and she isn’t far off