Building and buying your home can be daunting, especially for first home buyers. First home buyers in Australia – Gen Y in particular – are increasingly struggling to get into the property market, perhaps more so than any other generation before them.
In fact, many are relying on their parents to help set them up for the future, with 41% of Gen Y living with their parents in order to save money. Of those who managed to purchase an investment property, over 70% did so with the financial help of their parents.
And house prices just continue to increase. On average, they rose by 6.8% percent in Australia’s major capital cities in 2014. In terms of affordability, Australia is ranked as the third most unaffordable major market, according to the 11th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, in which 33 of the 51 markets were rated as severely unaffordable.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for those trying to enter the market, and according to history, the rise in property prices is bang on trend. Property prices in most capital cities across Australia have been steadily rising, and while your parents may have only paid $19,000 for an apartment that’s now worth more than $1 million, you have to remember that this is the norm. Everything increases over time, and property is no exception.
Which brings us to…
