Young Australians have ‘blind optimism’ they’ll buy a home: AHURI
She’ll be right, mate? Young Australians are hopeful they’ll be able to buy a home soon — despite more living with their parents for longer as the struggle to find secure housing intensifies.
More Aussies are living with their parents well into their 20s than they were 15 years ago — but many have a “blind optimism” they’ll eventually be able to achieve their housing goals.
A new Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute report has found many young adults are putting their long-term housing aspirations on hold to focus on other important goals, like completing study or finding a secure job.
The report’s lead author Sharon Parkinson, of Swinburne University, said the delay was also due to more young people being priced out of both home ownership and the private rental market.
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“Many young adults not only struggle to buy a home, but to secure any type of independent and secure housing,” Dr Parkinson said.
The report used the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data to determine the proportion of Aussies aged 18-24 who were living with their folks grew from 58 per cent in 2003-04 to 66 per cent in 2015-16.
Just 17 per cent in this age group rented on their own or as a couple, with the remaining 17 per cent living in shared housing.
For those aged 25-34, a third had either remained or moved back in with their parents, or lived in share houses.
Dr Parkinson and other Swinburne and Curtin University researchers also quizzed more than 2400 young Australians to find 60 per cent of those aged 18-24 and 70 per cent aged 25-34 viewed living in a home they owned as their ideal situation. This was slightly less than older Aussies (80 per cent).
Most 18-24-year-olds had a “blind optimism” home ownership would be possible in the near future, despite not actively planning for it.
In the 25-34 age bracket, 61 per cent of those with a tertiary education and a higher income believed they would buy within five years, compared to just 36 per cent with an education to year 12 or below.
Sam Stevenson, 32, and his partner Alexandra, 27, recently left their Collingwood rental to move into her parents’ house, with an aim to “supercharge” their buying efforts.
Mr Stevenson said while they “weren’t really interested in buying a home (in their) early to mid 20s”, they’d become motivated to do in recent years.
“Living back with the parents when you’ve already moved out of home can take a bit of a toll,” he said.
“But we see owning a home as a key way to ensure our future comfort.”
Mr Stevenson said they’d now saved a 20 per cent deposit but, despite the market’s much-hyped downturn, were repeatedly being priced out at runaway auctions.
Further research from Westpac found 57 per cent of Victorians believed now was the time to buy, and felt more confident about the state of the market than they did a year ago.
Twenty per cent of those surveyed by the major bank said low interest rates were encouraging them to take the plunge, and 17 per cent were influenced by falling house prices.
But competition from other buyers was rated the biggest challenge for budding Victorian buyers, followed by not finding a suitable property and a lack of homes on the market.
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Originally published as Young Australians have ‘blind optimism’ they’ll buy a home: AHURI