“Depressing”: Inside couple’s two-year fight to buy an affordable home

Two full-time jobs and living with family still wasn’t enough for this couple to afford a house in today’s market.

Brie Eyre and John Rowe worked two full-time jobs, saved for years and lived with their family to afford their first house – and they still couldn’t find a place after two years of searching.

“We went to a lot of suburbs that, at the end of the year, we were completely priced out of,” Ms Eyre said.

“It was so disheartening.”

Brie Eyre John Rowe spent two years looking for a home for themselves and their dog Luna, and slowly found themselves priced out of everywhere they looked. Picture: Liam Kidston

The pair began their journey looking for homes on the south side of Brisbane, under their budget of around $700,000.

But with Queensland’s median house price rising dramatically over the last few years, the pair found their options increasingly limited the longer they searched.

“We always think back to some of the first houses that we looked at in Corina and Carindale: great little houses that would have been perfect,” Ms Eyre said.

“We thought we could do better, and now we look back on it and think we could have saved so much time and money by purchasing there. But we didn’t know how crazy the market would become.”

One of several homes for sale in Acacia Ridge. The suburb’s median house price is $802,000, and one of the few remaining areas Ms Eyre and Mr Rowe could afford.

Seeking a single-floor home for themselves and their dog, the two would spend almost every weekend at open homes and auctions, consistently outbid by others – sometimes with as small a margin as $1000.

“In the last six months or so, we put in quite a few offers,” Ms Eyre said. “We actually got to a contract [in Forest Lake] … but someone put in an offer at the last second and beat us.”

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, when the pair finally found a well-sized home in Acacia Ridge.

The area sports a median house price of $802,000, which it shares with its neighbouring suburb of Rocklea.

This makes it one of the most affordable areas for houses within 10km from the CBD, with nearby suburbs such as Sherwood selling homes for $1.7 million.

Acacia Ridge is one of the most affordable suburbs left within 10km of the city, and it’s quickly attracting investors to buy out its limited supply.

“To get this property, in the last 6 months we had to ask our family for some loans to increase our borrowing capacity,” Ms Eyre said. “We kept getting priced out. We were saving so much, but the market kept rising faster than we could have saved.”

Ray White Annerley agent Bevin Powell has worked in Acacia Ridge for 15 years, and said he had begun to see “a sudden shift” in the suburb’s buyer demographic.

“Traditionally, it’s been a low socio-economic area, with a lot of industrial bits and pieces surrounding it,” he said. “It’s still affordable at the moment, but I don’t think for much longer: mainly due to investors coming in and seeing quite good value.”

Despite both working full-time and living with family, Ms Eyre and Mr Rowe still needed family loans to help them afford their place. Picture: Liam Kidston

Mr Powell said while owner-occupiers were still buying in Acacia Ridge, investors were flocking to the market to buy sub-$1m blocks of land near the city while they still could.

“I think the days of it being one of the last affordable suburbs are coming to an end,” he said.

Ms Eyre and Mr Rowe were overjoyed to finally get their first home, but said the journey was a total nightmare.

“It was so upsetting,” Ms Eyre said. “It got so exhausting that we had to have time off [auctions] … it was getting depressing.”

“[Now], I can’t wait to have friends and family over in the backyard. We’ve never been able to have a property where we can host family events, so hopefully we can host Christmas this year.”

Originally published as “Depressing”: Inside couple’s two-year fight to buy an affordable home