A young woman has shared her feelings of hopelessness as she tries to break into the property market despite earning what many would consider a very comfortable income.
Erin, 28, and her partner earn a combined income of $200,000 from stable jobs in south-east Queensland and have minimal weekly expenses.
But she feels that her healthy income is no longer enough.
In today’s economy, Australians earning average incomes are struggling to save money for house deposits due to high rents and general living costs.
Prospective Australian home buyers face minimum deposits of more than $100,000.
PropTrack’s Housing Affordability Report, released on Saturday, also found it would take Australians an average of five years to save for a home deposit.
For Erin and her partner, shopping in their suburb is a daunting venture.
They live several kilometres from central Brisbane, in a suburb with a median house price of more than $1.2 million.
Erin was stunned to learn how much the million-dollar home she rents cost just a few decades ago.
The three-bedroom apartment she and her partner rent is valued at approximately $1.3 million.
Erin said a chance encounter with an elderly previous owner of the property left her speechless.
The woman was looking for some mail that might have gotten lost when Erin asked her how much she had bought the house, now worth $1.3 million, for.
She revealed that she had bought it for $200,000 a few decades ago.
In a TikTok, the 28-year-old said she was told the time would come for her to own a home, to which she asked: “When?”
Erin said her most recent trip to the bank was a harrowing experience, where she learned the true limits of her borrowing capacity.
“I had a conversation with the bank. I had about $20,000 saved up, which I thought was a considerable amount for what I was making at the time, and he said, ‘The maximum you can borrow is $300,000,'” she said. news.com.au.
“Dude, what the hell am I going to buy with $300,000? There was nothing out there at the time and that was five years ago.”
Since that day at the bank, Erin’s salary has increased, but so have house prices.
Erin said that even with her partner, buying a house still seems impossible and talking about it has become taboo between them.
She revealed that they both find the topic too depressing.
The country’s housing crisis has worsened further and competition has driven prices up even further.
Erin believes her only chance of buying a house would be through some stroke of luck, and explains that everyone she knows has used inheritances or the Bank of Mom and Dad to put down a deposit.
“I try not to think about it, just because I get jealous that some of my friends have places, and then they complain to me because their mortgage rates go up, but you have a house,” she added.
According to PropTrack’s report, mortgage costs are at levels comparable to those of 2008, just below the historic peaks of 1989-1990.
The PropTrack report showed that last year a household with a median income of $112,000 could afford only 14 percent of homes sold.
Just three years ago, a household with an average income could afford to buy 43 percent of homes.