How 27yo scored Melbourne home on below average wage

A woman making below Australia’s average wage managed to buy her first home all by herself – but there was a major catch.

A 27-year-old woman making well below Australia’s average wage managed to purchase her first home in Melbourne all by herself.

But there was a major catch – to do it she had to move back in with her parents.

Blanche Mathias, originally from Melbourne, moved to Sydney for a job in human relations at a start-up company.

She earned less than $90,000 a year — which is the average Australian full-time wage – but was only able to pocket a small amount of her pay packet because of other mounting costs.

“My rent itself would give me an aneurysm,” Ms Mathias told news.com.au.

“I wasn’t able to save much, maybe $600 every month after rent and other expenses.”

After her company shifted to remote work in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, she questioned why she was still in Sydney and ended up moving back home.

As a result, she was able to save $3500 every month, which she admits made a “huge difference” to her homeowner aspirations.

In May this year, she purchased a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment off the plan with a deposit of $55,000.

Blanche Mathias become a first homebuyer in May this year.

Ms Mathias also had a raft of savings from her days as a university student when she worked casually.

She was a lifeguard at Monash Aquatic Centre for seven years before landing her job in HR.

Although she admitted to “throwing away” all her money because was “excited” to be earning at first, in her later years of university she saved more stringently.

She said she’s also “played around” with stocks and was able to knuckle down and seriously look into it when she had more time on her hands during the pandemic.

After Melbourne was hit with their 112-day lockdown during the Covid-19 second wave, Ms Mathias was also able to save more than she normally would have.

She lost her job due to “Covid recession” but managed to find another HR job within a month.

“It’s really sad to say thanks Covid, but I got to decide on investments, got a role that I’m passionate about,” she said.

“It was good timing to do these things.”

A rendering of the Aster Apartments.

The apartments are being built in Clayton South.

Ms Mathias, who is an only child, said her parents offered to help her pay the deposit, but in the end this wasn’t necessary.

But even with all her cash and her parents’ backing, she at first struggled to find a place in her price range.

“I had been going to auctions and a lot of house inspections [but was] outbid quite significantly,” she said.

“The area I was looking to move in, the houses were going for a few hundred thousand more.”

She wanted to live in Keysborough, 27km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD, but ending up settling on a development in Clayton South, a few suburbs over.

“I wanted to spend between $600,000 and $750,000, based on the market price,” she said.

“I was not going to extend any more than $750,000; [that] wouldn’t be affordable on my income.

“The apartment that I got was in that range.”

Ms Mathias bought a flat from Aster Apartments, which consist of three buildings with modern one, two and three-bedroom homes.

Her mortgage payments are “comfortable” on her current salary.

The development won’t be finished until 2022.

That means, potentially, she will have to stay with her parents for another year or more before she can move into her new property.

A mock-up of the living room in the apartment.

A rendering of one of the apartment balconies.

Research from earlier this year found the financial difference between those who live at home and those whose rent adds up to more than $106,000 over a five-year period.

It found the average cost of living out of home was $402, with $214 for rent, $42 for bills, and $144 for groceries and alcohol.

While that might not sound like much, it quickly adds up to $20,921 per renter each year.

Dr Edgar Liu, a research fellow from the University of NSW who specialises in multigenerational households, said that the age of people living at home was gradually increasing.

He said “the most common driver was finance” when it came to choosing to stay with your parents.