A young businessman shared how he bought two houses without having rich parents or a well-paying job.
Despite coming from a “disadvantaged” background, Harry Doig, 25, now owns two properties in Queensland and is ambitiously planning to build a property empire.
Mr Doig believes young Australians can afford to buy a home if they put their mind to saving money and are prepared to buy a cheaper one so they can renovate.
His advice to others looking to buy a home is to “not be so pushy about getting things on credit and to live only within your means.”
“It’s not that comfortable, but it’s worth it in the long run,” he said. mail.
While saving for a deposit on a low salary, Mr Doig had to cut back on spending on luxuries many Australians take for granted.
That included cancelling subscriptions like Netflix and avoiding buy-now-pay-later services like ZipPay and Afterpay. She also stopped eating out.
Mine mechanic Harry Doig (pictured) has revealed how he managed to buy his second property aged just 25, while others his age are put off by the property market.
“Going through those difficult circumstances and living with two-minute noodles, unpredictable housing, high cost of living. I just had to make it work no matter how hard it was.”
He sold most of his tools and eventually saved enough for a 10 percent deposit on a house.
But the young merchant faced another challenge: getting a loan.
Mr Doig said he was “laughed at” by a NAB employee when he was looking for a mortgage, which he said was “quite demoralising”.
Another bank employee said he was denied a loan because it was “high risk,” but was eventually given the chance to complete his goal on his third attempt.
The mine mechanic bought his first home in Allenstown, Rockhampton, for $170,000 in 2021 after saving every penny possible on a low salary.
After putting in new doors and adding carpeted floors, she now rents out the home and has her sights set on another property.
He struck again in January last year, buying a $210,000 home on nearby Murray Street with plans to completely renovate it himself.
He said he felt “inspired” to invest in property to help forge a better life for himself.
Mr Doig advises prospective homeowners to set realistic goals by looking for more affordable properties in the regions, rather than buying in big cities where prices are spiralling out of control.
Mr Doig said he had to make sacrifices while saving for a mortgage deposit, going so far as to sleep in his car to avoid high rental prices in Brisbane (file image)
Despite the Reserve Bank raising interest rates to control inflation, property prices in Australia’s capital cities have still risen another 20 per cent in the past year.
Freelancer.com CEO and entrepreneur Matt Barrie agreed that economists consider housing to be “astronomically unaffordable” if it costs more than five times the average salary.
In Australia, the average salary for a home in a capital city is nine times higher than the median salary, while in Sydney it is 13 times higher.
“The root of all the ills in this country is the astronomical cost of housing. Once you understand all the ramifications of that, you understand that it really is the root of all the problems,” Barrie said.
In Sydney, the average home costs around $1.6 million, according to Domain’s House Price Report for the March quarter of 2024, and the company predicts the median price could reach $2 million within the next three years.
It is the second most expensive city in the world to buy a house behind Hong Kong.
Mr Barrie said it was now mathematically impossible for a middle-income household to afford a mortgage in Australia.
‘The average salary is about $94,000 a year, of which take-home pay is about $5,900 a month after taxes. With a $1.2 million mortgage at current rates, that’s closer to $7,000 a month (in mortgage payments).
“Wages are no longer enough to pay for houses in Sydney,” he said.
