Young Aussie reveals question she’s so sick of

A young Aussie has revealed the question she’s so sick of being asked and why the answer feels “impossible.”

“It feels impossible.”

The Australian dream of owning a home and paying it off within one’s lifetime is officially on life support.

Erin, 28, works full-time in administration. Together with her partner, who works in construction, they bring in around $200,000 a year, but she’s in no position to buy.

The couple lives in Brisbane and are looking for a rental with a generous budget of between $800 and $900 per week.

Erin’s pretty sick of people asking if she’s going to buy.

“When we started looking for a rental, people were like, ‘why don’t you just buy?’ Okay, well, maybe if I’d been saving since I was five,” Erin told news.com.au.

Rent money might be seen as dead money, but it is all the two full-time workers can afford.

Erin has revealed why she’s still renting. Picture: TikTok/ez95e

The young Aussie has revealed buying a home feels out of reach. Picture: TikTok/ez95e

Property prices have massively increased in Brisbane in the past few years but have really ramped up in 2024.

The median house price is now $889,474, whereas the average price was $28,000 less just three months ago.

And while property prices are ballooning, wage growth is slow-moving. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, wages have only grown 4.1 per cent this year.

For Erin, the idea of being able to buy something more significant than a “dog box” just seems impossible.

Sure, she earns decent money, as does her partner, but if she wants to live near work and somewhere nice, there’s not enough money left over to start chipping away at a deposit.

If the couple tried to buy an averagely priced house for around $800,000, a 20 per cent deposit would be ideal, which is $160,000. This is more than both their individual annual salaries.

Erin said occasionally she has “glimmers of hope” when she hears from friends how they’ve bought, but she home ownership still feels out of reach for her.

She grew up thinking it’d be easy to buy. Picture: TikTok/ez95e

She doesn’t know when she’ll being to afford to now. Picture: TikTok/ez95e

Every time Erin gets a big bill, like her last electricity bill, which was a staggering $400, it feels like proof that buying just isn’t possible.

It’s been a tough pill to swallow.

“I was always under the impression that if I’m earning decent money, surely, I can go to the bank and get a loan,” she said.

This technically is still true, but getting approved for a loan big enough to service a mortgage in Brisbane isn’t easy, especially if she could only scrape together the minimum deposit.

Young Aussie reveals why she can't buy. Picture: TikTok/ez95e

She said that maybe if she’d bought before Covid, she’d have had more of a chance, but right now, the buying market in Brisbane is “cooked.”

When she was on $80,000 a few years ago, she was told the maximum she could borrow was $300,000, and she’s worried that hasn’t changed enough since.

The young worker said she’s not after a castle, just a modern place with a “good-sized bathroom,” but she can only afford to rent that kind of property.

If she were trying to buy, she’d have to go for something older style … and probably with a very small bathroom.

Right now, she’s content to rent, but the pressure to save up and buy is too much for one person to carry … and it also puts pressure on her relationship.

“It does add pressure. He’d be happy with whatever, but I do want something nicer,” she said.

For now, the couple will stick to renting.

Originally published as Young Aussie reveals question she’s so sick of