Western Sydney couple reveal how they bought their first home

With property prices skyrocketing, the 27-year-old wondered if buying a home would be possible, as research shows Millennials are crying out for help.

Brittney Rigby has been saving for more than 10 years to become a homeowner, but as the Sydney resident watched property prices skyrocketing she wondered if it was ever going to become a reality.

Sydney house prices have soared by nearly 20 per cent over the past year in what has become the strongest property boom in a generation.

The 27-year-old spent six months seriously searching the market with her lawyer partner, before they finally managed to secure something. It meant every Saturday consumed, with the couple attending more than 100 inspections and auctions during that time.

She has been saving for a place since she started work at 15, when she waitressed and had a job at her local Reject Shop.

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Brittney’s jobs so far have included waitressing, tutoring, working at the Reject Shop, a stint as a law clerk and journalist before settling in communications. Picture: Supplied

But Ms Rigby described searching for a property in Sydney as “super stressful”.

“This is the biggest purchase you are ever going to make, so it feels incredibly important to make the right decision. Obviously when you are looking at properties and you think it’s within the price range and it’s actually not and the market is willing to pay much more above what the real estate agent is saying or the valuations online are saying, it has felt really disheartening,” she told news.com.au.

“It’s also really expensive. Every time you go to an auction you are paying for a building report or potentially a strata report or potentially solicitor’s services. We were lucky that we had a solicitor who did four free contract reviews, assuming you went on to use their services for conveyancing. But I have chatted to people who said every auction was another $1000 out of pocket by the time they paid for a contract review or strata report.”

The impact of the pandemic also made Ms Rigby desperate to get into the market.

“We have been in same one bedroom apartment for five years, so being at home so much and seeing how much our worlds had shrunk to this very tiny space, it felt like a very good time to try and find something bigger and to go that down path,” she said.

But with their budget stretched to $950,000 and most places in Parramatta, where they were looking, going above the $1 million mark, the couple had started to think they had been priced out of the market and were on the verge of giving up.

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The couple spent six months looking at over 100 places and at auctions. Picture: Supplied

“We felt increasing like have we missed our chance as the market is shooting past us and are we ever going to be able to catch up? I think most first homebuyers felt that, which creates even more demand and crazy prices because people are thinking if I don’t chuck what I have at it now I’ll never get a place. It’s a slog,” she said.

The median price of a house in Sydney was $1.01 million last year but has since ballooned to $1.22 million – with prices rising about $38,000 in June alone, according to CoreLogic data.

But a few months ago the couple managed to snag a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property in North Parramatta.

Ms Rigby said they simply got “lucky” and are still in disbelief they got it. They can’t move in until November when an existing tenancy ends.

She admits, however, that transferring over 10 years of savings was hard.

“It’s interesting because you know that money is growing towards this one big massive goal, which is the most expensive purchase you will ever make, and it’s hard to imagine that it’s only 5 per cent or 10 per cent of that entire amount,” she said.

“The toughest part was transferring money out and psychologically reconciling that it’s a good thing, versus [the fact that] all the money I had saved over a decade was gone.”

Because of the high Sydney prices, the couple couldn’t take advantage of either the first homebuyers scheme, which cuts out at $650,000 for existing homes, or stamp duty exemption which is capped at $800,000.

The couple managed to buy a three-bedroom, two-bathroom duplex in North Parramatta for $950,000. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

Ms Rigby said the schemes are great but only apply to a “small sliver of people” in Sydney.

“It’s definitely something that could be improved upon, if you’re buying a place for under $650,000 to get a full first homebuyers grant, you could potentially get a freestanding house in parts of NSW but you would lucky to get a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney,” she said “Particularly in Sydney it could be made more accessible for first homebuyers and the stamp duty exemption would have made a lot of difference for us as we paid almost $40,000 in stamp duty.”

More regulation wanted to help Millennials

New research has shown that 70 per cent of Millennials believe the housing market should be more heavily regulated in order to slow property prices and 40 per cent want better first homebuyer schemes, according to mortgage brokerage Home Loan Experts.

One idea floated was regulating property investors’ access to the market, with 30 per cent of Millennials pushing for the move in the survey, while 37 per cent of Gen X also supported it.

Many younger Aussies are feeling the pinch as property prices continue to rise across the country with 42 per cent of Millennials revealing they were priced out of the region they wanted to buy in and forced to search for property elsewhere, the data found.

It means Millennials are having to consider alternative pathways to achieve the home ownership dream, said Alan Hemmings, CEO of Home Loan Experts.

“Whether this involves them delaying their purchase, turning to family members to act as guarantor or even considering other options like rentvesting, Millennials are being forced to consider other methods in their property journey,” he said.

“What we are seeing, as more workplaces embrace flexible working conditions, is more Millennials considering suburbs on the outskirts of cities, the ‘Goldilocks suburbs’ where they can still commute from one day a week, but which offers much better affordability than city hubs.”