Sunshine Coast property: How young home buyers are getting into the market

In an age where owning a home seems a distant dream for some, these Gen Z home buyers are beating the odds – without the bank of mum and dad. This is how they did it.

In an age where owning a home seems a distant dream for some, these Gen Z home buyers are beating the odds – without the bank of mum and dad. File image for background.

A 21-year-old Coolum woman is in the process of snapping up her first home on the Sunshine Coast after “saving every penny” for almost a decade.

Crystal Spendlove and Mooloolah Valley siblings Jacqui and Tom Stranger, 29 and 24, are among the young homebuyers who are determined to get into the market despite living in one of Queensland’s most expensive areas.

Property data from Real Estate Institute of Queensland from April to June 2023 states the Sunshine Coast is the fourth most expensive place in Queensland to buy a house, with a median house price of $936,000.

This was behind the Gold Coast at $985,000, Brisbane at $1.02m and Noosa at $1.3m.

Ms Spendlove, who grew up in Tewantin and now works as admin for a construction company and at Mecca Noosaville, said she has been “saving every penny” since she began working at a Noosaville fish and chip shop at 14-years-old.

Crystal Spendlove, 21, (pictured) has been meticulously saving since she joined the workforce at 14 to buy her first house as soon as possible.

She only spent money on what she absolutely had to, she said, including on her first car.

“When I was 15, I was saving for a house,” she said.

“All my friends were going to City Beach and buying new clothes … and I would go there and go ‘that’s $60, that’s four hours of work. Would I work four hours for that? No,’ and I wouldn’t buy it.”

It was her savvy saving and a first home buyers grant which helped her get to this position, she said.

She is yet to snap up a property of her own, but has been actively looking around the Coolum and Marcoola areas.

She described the market as “competitive”, often battling interstate buyers with cash in hand, but was using a buyer agent to help with her journey.

The Stranger siblings have secured land where they grew up at Mooloolah Valley, west of Caloundra, after deciding to combine their money and have a joint investment in a house.

Ms Stranger said land was hard to come by in Mooloolah Valley and considered herself and her brother “lucky” to have the opportunity to build where they grew up.

Ms Stranger works as a fly in, fly out worker in the mining industry while Mr Stranger is a certified builder; but even with well-paying jobs, Ms Stranger said getting into the market was still a challenge.

“It was still really hard and especially with interest rates increasing and not being certain how the market may change. But I guess, you just have to bite the bullet, jump and hopefully it all works out,” she said.

Urbex Realty general manager Craig Covacich said prospective buyers were thinking outside the box to buy properties, with a surging trend in co-equity and group housing to get into the market.

Matt Diesel said first home buyers need to be prepared before they think about getting into the market.

Real estate agent Matt Diesel said there was always good contention of first home buyers on the Sunshine Coast, but recommended those wanting to get into the market make sure they are completely prepared.

He suggested buyers make sure they are pre-approved by the bank and know their borrowing capacity. Having a good broker and knowing what your “comfort limits” are, with rising interest rates and other fluctuating factors, are important too, he said.

For unit buyers, he recommended doing your research on body corporate fees and establish a sinking fund for potential repairs and maintenance.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast property: How young home buyers are getting into the market