‘What’: Couple earning a combined income of $200,000 still couldn’t afford Sydney

An Aussie couple have revealed the wild way they were finally able to buy a house, exposing a big problem with The First Home Buyers scheme.

An Aussie couple with a combined income of $200,000 still couldn’t afford to buy a home in Sydney through a real estate agent.

Samuel and Hannah Priestly own Men on Fire, a hen’s party business, as well as owning Bar Experience, a mobile bar service.

Mr Priestly, 33, used to work as a firefighter full-time, earning $70,000 but left it all behind to earn double, pretending to be a firefighter at parties.

The couple, who have two small children, were renting a five-bedroom house in Epping, Sydney, and forking out $1,000 a week on rent.

Mr Priestly told news.com.au that they had been “hustling for over 12 months” and found it “impossible” to find even a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney for under $800,000.

“The only way we could do it is because our friend called us and said our neighbour is selling, and we did it privately without real estate commission and fees,” he said.

An Aussie couple with a combined income of $200,000 still couldn’t afford to buy in Sydney Picture: Supplied

Mr Priestly, 33, used to work as a firefighter full-time, earning $70,000 Picture: Supplied

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The plan was always to take advantage of the First Home Buyers Assistance scheme, which allows you to pay no stamp duty on a home worth less than $800,000. However, if the home is valued between $800,000 and a million, you only get a discount.

Stamp duty is also expensive. If the couple bought an $800,000 home, they’d need to find an extra $30,000 to cover stamp duty.

The only way the couple were able to make their home-buying dreams a reality was by thinking outside the box and ditching real estate agents altogether.

Even then, the couple had to relocate to The Central Coast to buy a home for just under $800,000 to dodge the stamp duty fees.

Mr Priestly said it was a “lovely couple” who agreed to a private sale. They were happy to help out a “hardworking family” and not have to pay a third party any selling fees.

“To get anything with a good deal these days, you have to buy without a real estate agent,” he said.

Mr Priestly said the purchase also came down to sheer luck, because if the house had gone on the market, he believes it would have sold for at least $840,000.

The couple relocated to buy. Picture: Supplied

He left his job as a firefighter to earn more money Picture: Supplied

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The 33-year-old said that the First Home Buyers Scheme is good in theory, but it doesn’t work for people in Sydney, where the median house price is $1.6 million and the median price for a two-bedroom apartment is just over a million.

Mr Priestly also argued that even by moving out of Sydney, one can afford to buy something, but it certainly isn’t flash.

“When we were looking to buy, people said along the way, you’ll know it is the place you’re meant to buy because you’ll get an awesome feeling,” he said.

But when he looked at The Central Coast property, which is a tiny two-bedroom house, he admits there were no “warm and fuzzy feelings.” Instead, it just reminded him how bad the housing crisis in Australia is.

The place is a small fixer-upper, and he said when he did the initial walk-through, he thought, “What the f*ck” because the property was going to require a lot of work that they couldn’t afford to do immediately.

It was also tough to have to accept that the couple couldn’t afford a bigger home, and now their kids are sharing a room.

“I have never made this much money before and I’ve never felt more broke. No matter what we do I still can’t really get takeaway for dinner,” he said.

They've chosen to lower costs across both businesses. Picture: Supplied

He is working over 60 hours a week. Picture: Supplied

They are also now dealing with a $1,200 weekly mortgage, which is tough to keep up with, and Mr Priestly is working 60 hours a week across both his businesses to make ends meet.

The 33-year-old has also cut the prices across both businesses after realising that Aussies can’t afford luxuries right now, such as strippers or bartenders.

He said customers have really “responded” to the fact that prices are down, but as a result, they need “more volume” to make the business profitable, which means working even more hours.

Mr Priestly said Australia is pretty clearly broken. The fact that the couple is bringing in $200,000 and still can’t afford to live in Sydney says it all.

“When I was six, I would have thought that if I had a combined income of $200,000, I would have pictured myself living in Vaucluse,” he said.

Instead, the family-of-four is living an hour and a half from the city in a small two-bedroom home.

Grim 200,000 reality for Sydney locals. Picture: Supplied

Home loans expert Richard Whitten at Finder said that property in Sydney has “outpaced wage growth” which means the average Sydney home is unaffordable.

“Even for a couple earning $200,000 a year,” he told news.com.au.

“Two people earning $100,000 each would still be spending more than a third of their income just servicing the monthly loan repayments on a mortgage of $800,000.”

Mr Whitten pointed out that spending more than 30 per cent of your income is still the “definition of mortgage stress” and most borrowers are spending even more than that.

“Once you add in strata costs, council rates, insurance, you’re looking at a lot of money spent each month on housing,” he pointed out.

The home loan expert said the government help for first home buyers isn’t always enough.

“There is government support for first home buyers. State first homeowner grants can get you $10,000 if you meet all the criteria.

“And the federal First Home Guarantee lets eligible buyers get a home with a 5 per cent deposit while avoiding the extra cost of lenders mortgage insurance. That can save you $10-$20,000, but won’t change your loan repayments.

“It is important to remember that $200K is the maximum income for couples to be eligible, and if you’re buying in Sydney, $900,000 is the cap for properties under this scheme.”