‘Out of touch’: Gen Z eye-roll at Boomer house advice

A ‘Boomer’ has been slammed online after sharing “out of touch” advice for younger Aussies looking to buy a house.

A ‘Boomer’ has been blasted online after sharing “infuriating” and “out of touch” advice for younger Aussies looking to buy a house.

The Sydney homeowner shared her matter-of-fact views when asked about her own property journey for a TikTok video by property app Coposit Street.

The unnamed woman, who chose not to disclose her age or how much she has in savings, didn’t hold back when asked about younger Aussies, saying they “don’t make sacrifices”.

“When I was younger …. I never did brunches and partied and now (it’s what) they wanna do, she explained in the video, before admitting “it’s harder for them now”.

“Things are so expensive but they can start off small. A lot of people buy places that are too big but you’ve got to make sacrifices.”

Sharing what worked for her. She said: “I take my own lunch to work, I always have.”

“If you want a place of your own, start small but make the sacrifices, do two jobs, work a lot. Don’t go out as much as you want to.”

“I mean I feel sorry for the younger generation now because they’re thinking why bother because it’s too expensive, I’m just going to party and have a good time, which you can still do.”

The woman recalled she managed to secure a deposit for her own home after saving and working two jobs.

“When I entered (the property market) it was quite a while ago. I had a lot of difficulty because I was a single woman and I had prejudice against me so my father had to go guarantor and that was able to help,” she explained.

“I had two jobs, I worked really hard. I was actually trying to save to go overseas and then I cancelled that and I was renting … and I thought, well, maybe if I saved a bit of money and worked hard, I could put a deposit down for myself.”

The woman said she took her own lunch to work to save money. Picture: TikTok@coposit_street

She said younger prospective home buyers need to make sacrifices. Picture: TikTok@coposit_street

These days, the woman acknowledged the cost of living in Sydney is “very expensive”.

“It’s terrible … Rents have all gone up and everyone’s willing to pay for everything so people are just thinking we’ll charge this and then everyone’s charging on top, and people aren’t getting assistance so it’s hard these days.”

The homeowner’s comments were quickly met with backlash online, with one going so far to label the advice “infuriating”.

“We’ve turned our cars into taxis and our spare rooms into hotels to try and afford the same thing they had on a single income,” one person wrote.

“How are people this completely out of touch?” another wrote. “Most of my mates have worked since 14/15 (years old), Not gone away internally (sic), have clacked out cars and still only scrape by. I’m 20 and I can’t even remember the last time I went clubbing.”

“Yes not buying coffee is going to be enough to save for a house,” another sarcastically quipped.

The woman acknowledged buying a house is “harder now”. Picture: TikTok@coposit_street

‘Steeper hill to climb’

It comes as research conducted last year shows Gen Z and Millennials have a tougher path to buying a home than previous generations – with the latter facing mortgages 12 times their average income.

Research conducted by Finder found Millennials are having to save 1.3 to 1.5 times their annual salary for a deposit while Baby Boomers and Gen X only had to save 40 per cent and 90 per cent of their annual salaries respectively.

When adjusted for inflation, Gen X required the most income to afford the average home at $138,217, while Gen Z wasn’t far off at $129,809.

Millennials are having to save 1.3 to 1.5 times their annual salary for a deposit. Picture: iStock

Meanwhile, the value of the average salary has fallen. Millennials on average are earning an inflation adjusted salary of $91,493, and Gen Z are set to earn $97,156.

In comparison, Gen X had average inflation-adjusted salaries of over $100,000, and Baby Boomers enjoyed salaries over $200,000.

Rebecca Pike, a money expert at Finder, said homeownership is becoming increasingly out of reach for Aussies.

“Young Australians have a much steeper hill to climb to get onto the property ladder than their parents did,” she told news.com.au.

“Soaring property prices and rising interest rates have further exacerbated affordability issues, especially for those without help from their parents.”