‘Ruthless’: How two in 5 Aussies will buy a home in next 5 years
Pandemics, rate hikes, dire supply, nothing is fazing the real estate juggernaut with two in every five Aussies expected to do whatever it takes to buy a home in the next five years. Here’s how.
Pandemics, rate hikes, dire supply, nothing is fazing the real estate juggernaut with two in every five Aussies set to buy a home in the next five years, doing whatever it takes to get there.
The latest Westpac Home Ownership Report found 44 per cent of Australians planned to purchase a home in the next five years, a 9 per cent jump since the same survey was taken in July last year.
And that surge will be joined by a 6 per cent rise in investors looking to buy property, a 4 per cent jump in people planning to upsize and 4 per cent increase in people looking to put funds into renovations.
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This as new ABS data showed the number of people with more than one job climbed to over 970,000 across the country, with multi-job holders becoming increasingly creative in their side hustles to build up savings.
Westpac managing director of mortgages Damien MacRae said Aussies were focusing on long term goals doing whatever it took to get to home ownership.
“While some buyers have paused their housing plans, the intention to buy remains strong and prospective buyers are becoming more ruthless with their goals,” he said. “They understand it’s a big task, but they are determined to break into the market and are willing to compromise to get there.”
Among the compromises buyers were now willing to make, he said, were location – often a mental hurdle for many previous buyers – with many now willing to relocate to buy a home.
Three quarters (75pc) were willing to buy in areas they hadn’t considered before (up 9pc) and half (50pc) were planning to “rent-vest” to get their name on a property title.
A massive two-thirds were cutting back everyday luxuries like food delivery, and the number of people considering apartments was growing fast than those looking at houses.
Apartments and units jumped 7 per cent in popularity in the past year, Westpac found, with those preferring houses falling by 5 percentage points in the past three years.
More than half of those surveyed (56pc) were now going to buy with a partner to get in earlier – a 16pc rise – and even Lenders Mortgage Insurance was not considered a bad thing with 47pc willing to pay it if it got them their first home sooner.
Townhouses have now doubled in popularity and the preference for house and land packages quadrupled – mostly due to a flight to affordability rather than escaping coronavirus.
“During the pandemic we saw more buyers seeking property further from the city in pursuit of more space, however it appears buyers are willing to concede on location in order to get a foot in the door,” Mr MacRae said.
“While it’s promising to see buyer confidence returning with growth in medium to long-term plans, this underscores the importance of addressing the challenge around supply shortages.”
ABS data out Friday shows there were 970,700 multiple jobholders in December 2023, up 1.4pc from September 2023 when there were 957,100 multiple jobholders.
“Between 1994 and 2019, the multiple job-holding rate remained between 5pc and 6pc,” ABS said. “However, following a large decline at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, it has steadily risen and remained at a high of around 6.6pc to 6.7pc between December 2022 to December 2023.”
It found 7.5pc of employed women were multiple jobholders, compared to 6pc of employed men, while workers aged 20-24 years old were most likely to be working multiple jobs (8.4pc).
Multiple jobholders on average work 4.3 hours more a week at 39.4 hours – around 30.3 hours in their main job and about 9.1 hours in their secondary job – compared to single job holders averaging 35.1 hours a week.
ABS found most people with multiple jobs tended to have their second one in the same industry as their first including those in agriculture, construction, education, health, retail, administration and support services as well as accommodation and food services.
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According to thesmallbusinessblog.net, there was a rising trend towards becoming an Uber driver as a side hustle (43k), followed by dropshipping (17k), influencer 4.2k, tutoring 2.5k, pet sitting (2.3k), YouTube Channel (2.2k), freelancing (1.8k), dog walking (1.7k) while handyman and babysitting were tied at 1.4k.
“It seems everyone’s starting up a side hustle these days to earn a bit of extra cash. But which side gigs are people actually interested in?”
“In Australia, Uber drivers are King. This is likely due to the ease of signing up for Uber and the flexible working hours they offer, which makes Uber an easy side hustle to fit in around any other job,” the Small Business Blog said.
“Unlike in the other countries, four side hustles share last place: podcasting, e-commerce reselling, photography, and Amazon jobs. People might be put off the idea of photography, e-commerce, and podcasting as they are all markets with high competition. Amazon jobs, especially as warehouse workers or delivery drivers, often demand long hours and come with stressful working conditions which might make them unappealing.”
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Originally published as ‘Ruthless’: How two in 5 Aussies will buy a home in next 5 years