Our parents said our dreams would come true if we did everything right. They were wrong.Credit:Dionne Gain
Not all of us agree that the economics of homeownership stack up. One,a well-paid software engineer engaged to a data scientist,is emphatic:“Renting is not dead money. Let’s say we buy a million-dollar house,we’ll just end up paying $900,000 in interest to our bank. I’d rather pay $500,000 in so-called ‘dead money’ than give away $900,000 I’ll never see again.”
His partner pipes up:“You need to consider the risk – let’s say you buy property and the housing market crashes and never recovers. Your property isn’t worth the same and you’ve lost a lot of money.”
Another friend is completing a PhD while working and lives at home to save money. His position is clear:“Owning property in Sydney isn’t feasible unless you’re a double-income household. Buying property on a single income is a terrible idea.”
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I’m in the same position. After graduating with an honours degree,I work full-time as a conference producer and know that owning property is,at a minimum,a decade away. Themedian age of first home buyers went from 24.5 years old to 34.5 between 2000 and 2020. But we’re more fortunate than most within our age bracket. And if we’re struggling to navigate the system,how is everyone else faring? Doesn’t everyone deserve a place to call their own?
Every generation has fought a war,and the war my generation is fighting looks totally different from the battles that came before us. Our grandparents,while experiencing the hardships that came with war,were perhaps the last generation able to buy property on a single income. My 60-something parents bought their Sydney home in the 1980s. Like most of the Boomer generation,the global expansion of free-market ideology meant money was free-flowing and plentiful.
My generation grew up assuming we’d have it just as easy,and we were wrong. We were promised a future where we could marry young,enjoy full-time employment and raise children in a home we could call our own. These days,that dream is restricted to the privileged few.