Australians, faced with ridiculously high property prices, are coming up with creative ways to make the most of a market that shows no signs of slowing down.
Arianne Endrizzi, 35, a married mother of two young children, bought an investment property in Redland Bay, south-east of Brisbane, with her mother Susan Putnam, 70, in June 2022.
“It was a response to a problem,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was more about ‘can we help each other?’ and ‘how can we support each other and move towards our goals?’
Ms Putnam faced the prospect of being unable to access the full pension after selling a two-bedroom unit in Hornsby, in Sydney’s north, for $730,000.
The family home, or someone’s main place of residence, is exempt from the assets test for those receiving a pension, but with money in the bank, Ms Putnam was only able to get a partial pension.
To solve this problem, mother and daughter jointly paid $195,500 each for a $391,000 plot of land in Redland Bay; the land had a lower stamp duty than a house and land package.
Together they then spent another $285,970 to build a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home.
Arianne Endrizzi, 35, a married mother of two young children, bought an investment property in Redland Bay, south-east of Brisbane, with her mother Susan Putnam, 70, in June 2022 (pictured with baby Aurora)
They split the total cost of $676,970 in half, with Ms Putnam putting $338,500 into the Redland Bay property and the rest of her savings into a house on the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, so she would have money in both an investment property and a primary residence.
Ms Endrizzi, who grew up in Sydney, borrowed $180,000 for the land and house in Redland Bay, and used her savings to fund the rest; the property is now on the market with an asking weekly rent of $725.
Property investing is now the full-time job of Ms Endrizzi, a mother of two who lives in a house in Palm Cove, north of Cairns.
He also has investment properties at Red Cliffs near Mildura in north-west Victoria, another at nearby Nangiloc, a home at Burpengary north of Brisbane and Yarrabilba south of Brisbane.
‘Get creative in how you put together a deposit – the emergence of financial content on platforms such as podcasts, social media, YouTube and books provides valuable information to help give people ideas,’ he said.
The mother and daughter split the total cost of $676,970 to build the house in Redland Bay, southeast of Brisbane.
Ms Endrizzi borrowed $180,000 to cover the cost of the land and the Redland Bay house and used her savings to finance the rest.
The median house price in Australia, at $793,883, is out of reach of the average full-time worker earning $98,218.
That’s because banks can’t lend someone more than 5.2 times their salary, limiting the typical worker to a $600,000 home even if they had a 20 percent deposit.
In every capital city except Darwin, the median home price is now unaffordable for a single person on an average income, unless they can afford to buy it with their spouse, a relative or a friend.
Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, said baby boomers now typically helped their children buy a home so they did not have to wait until they died to receive an inheritance.
“Baby boomers and some Gen Xers are benefiting from the pricing: They’re in a position, from a wealth perspective, to give some money to their kids now rather than waiting for an inheritance to do so,” he said.
James Kirkland, executive general manager of sales at Little Real Estate, said he’s never seen so many buyers turning to the “Bank of Mom and Dad” during his two decades in the business.