‘Heartbreaking’: Sydney family saved $100k but are ‘totally priced out’ of property market

Amy and Ben have $100,000 saved to buy a home for their growing family – but were stunned when their mortgage broker told them it wasn’t nearly enough.

Despite having $100,000 in savings, Amy Kitts and her husband Ben feel “hopeless” about their dream of ever owning a house in Sydney and say they are priced out of the market, despite their huge chunk of money.

Ben was “devastated” to lose his job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the couple squirrelled away the redundancy pay to top up their savings and with Amy only working three days a week, they moved into her parents’ house.

The 37-year-old found a new job as a casual and the couple, who have been married for seven years, decided to live off his earnings and use the $1000 a fortnight from Amy’s part-time arts job to top up their savings.

A year later, they never thought they would still be living with Amy’s parents, along with their two-year-old daughter. But the search for their own home is proving “impossible”, Ms Kitts said.

“We met with a mortgage broker who gave us the heartbreaking news that $100,000 of hard savings would be swallowed up by fees alone meaning we didn’t actually have a deposit at all,” she told news.com.au. “It still blows my mind and makes me angry thinking about that.”

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Amy and Ben Kitts have $100,000 saved but still can’t buy a house in Sydney and say things needs to change. Picture: Supplied

The mortgage broker told the couple that after stamp duty, conveyancing fees, loan applications, transfer fees, mortgage registration fee, building inspection reports and the loan application they would be left with just $59,000 from their savings.

“This is all being based on a million-dollar house, which obviously we can’t afford, but there doesn’t seem to be anything under million dollars in Sydney anyway,” Ms Kitts said.

“So we were left with $59,000, which was less than them 20 per cent deposit we would need and we would also need mortgage insurance, which was almost $40,000.

“The other option was my parents giving us a big chunk of money and equity from their house but they are retired and we don’t know what the situation is going to be like – if coronavirus will come back with a vengeance – and we don’t want to risk putting my parents out of their house when they are retired.”

In March, CoreLogic’s data found Sydney’s median property value, including both units and houses, is now a staggering $895,933. In July last year, the number of suburbs in Sydney with home values above $1 million rose to 209.

The Kitts’ mortgage broker worked out that with the $100,000 the most the family could afford would be a house priced at no more $580,000, Ms Kitts said.

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Amy and Ben Kitts have been married for seven years and feel like they can never get ahead of rising house prices. Picture: Supplied

The 35-year-old mum said she felt “hopeless” after the meeting with the mortgage broker.

“It doesn’t feel like we would be any different situation if had $20,000 or $100,000 savings, there doesn’t seem any value in our money,” she said.

She added they were well aware they couldn’t afford a $1 million mortgage but house prices are “unrealistic”.

“We are totally priced out. I’m not searching for a mansion in the eastern suburbs, I just want a family home with a small backyard for my daughter, close to family as my parents get older. But unfortunately you have to be a millionaire to have the privilege of owning your own home in Sydney,” she said.

“The most upsetting part is that nothing is going to change – politicians don’t seem to care, there is no help and house prices are going to continue to rise.”

For Mr Kitts, a hospitality worker, he is wondering how the couple can ever get ahead,

particularly with news like a recent Deloitte Access Economics report which found Australian workers could be waiting up to five years for wage growth to return to just 2 per cent.

“There has been stagnated wage growth in the last four or five years and we have been warned it’s going to be even slower coming out of the pandemic,” he said. “We might be coming out of other side of the recession but wage growth is at a minimum and you hear stories that property prices have gone up six and eight per cent, but my wages haven’t and my savings haven’t, so we are not even treading water, we are swimming against the tide.”

The couple don’t want a house in the eastern suburbs with waterfront views and room for a pony, but a three-bedroom property in the suburbs. Picture: iStock

Ms Kitts added: “Every time we save that little bit more, then the house prices go up. Then we save more and house prices go up. So you are constantly chasing [your] tail so you can never get a fibro house in the suburbs as a 20 per cent deposit is huge.”

To boost their savings the couple are eating at home as much as possible and selling their daughter’s clothes when she grows out of them but Mr Kitts said there “isn’t much fat to trim”.

The option to stay close to Amy’s family is also invaluable as her parents look after their daughter saving them on childcare costs.

“I know people would say why don’t you look out at Broken Hill or somewhere like that but having that support network of family to help us with the other parts of life and also my parents are getting older you don’t want to be too far away,” Ms Kitts said. “I don’t want to come across as ‘poor us’ as we know there are people in worse situations, but it can’t keep going on with the property market like this.”

Mr Kitts revealed that they have also had to press pause on plans for expanding their family.

“We have one child now and were thinking about a second one and that has obviously put the brakes on that for now and who knows if it will ever change?” he said. “We want a house for our little family – we are not looking for waterfront property with room for a pony – we are just looking for a regular house and hope the house will have the things you need for your family like childcare and schools in the area that are good. Everyone wants that.”

Are people having to choose between owning a house and having children? Picture: iStock

But Ms Kitts said they are not the only one being put in the difficult situation of choosing between a house and children.

“I’ve got friends at work that are having to make the decision of whether to start a family or buy a house. Some have thought they can’t do both as they need to have an asset when they are older, so picked to buy a house rather than start a family, which is devastating for them to have to make that decision,” she said.

“I just worry. I don’t want our generation to be the ones that have to rely on our parents for help to get a house and when we are old to rely on children to pay for the nursing home.

“A lot of younger friends we have through work that are probably in their mid-20s, they are terrified what the future will be for them. At the moment they are happily renting in house shares but they are pretty nervous about the future.”

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