‘Jealous’: Response to 21-year-old being a homeowner exposes Aussie tensions

A young woman has exposed a grim new side of Australia’s housing crisis after revealing she owns her home at 21.

A young woman has revealed she’s already bought her first home at 21, but the response online reveals just how tense the housing crisis has become.

Coposit St, an app that helps Aussies get into the increasingly competitive property market is routinely going viral on social media by stopping Aussies in the street and asking them how much money they have saved.

A young girl named Catherine was stopped and revealed she’d recently used “all her savings” but still had $10,000 left.

She then explained that she’d managed to buy her first home in an increasingly competitive profit market.

The median house price in Sydney has hit a record $1.65 million, and the median rent has surged to $750.

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She said she had $10,000 left in savings. Picture: TikTok/Coposit St

She said her brother helped her get ahead. Picture: TikTok/Coposit St

In November, the financial comparison website Finder released research that found that the minimum household income required to afford the mortgage for an average Australian house is $182,000, while those owning units need about $130,000.

When you factor in the fact that the average personal income for Gen Zers is $54,065, it quickly becomes clear that housing affordability is insanely tough for young people but Catherine’s managed to overcome it all.

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The 21-year-old said she clawed her way onto the property market while most people were just moving into their first share houses because she had a small advantage.

“My brother is a property developer and wants the best for us and tells us where we should be investing,” she explained.

“I’m very lucky to have him!”

The 21-year-old claimed she didn’t have to make any big sacrifices to get into the property market but needed to focus on “saving more” to get her foot in the door.

Although she admitted that “going out less” in her twenties was “sad,” she acknowledged that she was “very fortunate” to be keeping afloat during the cost-of-living crisis, noting that it was “unfair” how tough the times were.

She's a fresh graduate. Picture: Instagram/catherinetiaa

She defended buying her first place. Picture: Instagram/catherinetiaa

The response online was mixed as some people applauded her efforts and others assumed her parents gave her money.

Some even poked fun at the fact that she was likely in a considerable debt.

For example, someone wrote, “Mum and Dad funds for sure,” and another argued, “At 20, no one has cash.”

The response caused Catherine to jump in and defend herself against the assumption.

She said that “most of the funds” she used to buy the property were built up over a three-year period.

Where she worked full-time as a marketing coordinator and two other jobs that “assisted” in getting her loan.

Catherine also clarified she grew up in a single-parent household and had worked since she was 16.

The response caused Catherine to jump in and defend herself against the assumption. Picture: iStock

When someone suggested that she now “works for the bank,” she argued back that there’s “no harm “ in using banks to invest at a young age.

She also said she bought a house, with a deposit of under $40,000, and had worked really hard to buy a place.

“The video is a few seconds; you cannot assume. In 2022, I also worked two jobs seven days a week while in university, but I don’t consider that a sacrifice; it was a great opportunity, hence why it’s not mentioned,” she said.

Despite some of the negative responses, someone else wrote that Catherine should be “proud” of herself, another claimed people were just acting “jealous” and another told haters to “Knock it off with the tall poppy syndrome”.