The time it takes to save a deposit has more than doubled for first home buyers
FIRST home buyers are having to save for longer than ever before in an effort to buy their own property.
FIRST home buyers are having to save for longer than ever before in an effort to dip their toe into home ownership.
Despite warnings from the Reserve Bank of Australia this week that surging house prices won’t last forever and they could fall, price increases in recent years have led to a very low number of first home buyers being able to enter the market.
A new survey by Mortgage Choice has revealed one in four first home buyers had to save for more than five years to pull together enough for a deposit. RBA: HOUSE PRICES COULD FALL
In 2011 it took less than two years for first home buyers to save their deposit.
Mortgage Choice spokeswoman Jessica Darnbrough said it wasn’t surprising that the length of time had more than doubled in just a couple of years.
She said property prices in many cities had climbed at a very “impressive rate’’ during that time.
“Research from RP Data shows property prices across Australia’s combined capital cities have climbed 10.9 per cent over the 12 months to September,” she said.
Ms Darnbrough said this had forced first time buyers to save for longer and had made many change their buying plans.
The survey found about 40 per cent of first time buyers couldn’t purchase exactly where they wanted to.
Of those buyers, 88.2 per cent said it was the rising property prices that had stopped them from buying where they wanted.
Despite the hardship to saving a deposit Ms Darnbrough said first time buyers felt it was worth it because they were setting themselves up financially for the future.