I’m sad. And tired.
I’m 30, my wife’s 25. We don’t own. We can’t afford to. In 5 years we’ve saved $40k a long long way to go from the $120k we need for a crap 3×1 closer to the city. Our rent goes to someone who negatively gears the property and all their money goes to the bank. There’s no point in living in Australia.
We are slaves.
I’ve recently got a job offer in the US – Houston. We have almost 50 per cent of a home deposit without further saving. Our wages drop a fifth but the cost of living is halved and we have all the opportunity to grow.
Sorry Australia. We won’t be turned into slaves to keep your worthless property bubble afloat.
That $120k would just be a 20 per cent deposit. We would still need to borrow another 480k and use over 60% of my pay to service it and live off a couple hundred a week. On top of all that our wages didn’t rise this year.
The point of working is that you set up a system that gives back to you more than you put in. Why would I spend every day for 30 years tossing water out of a sinking boat when I should be finding the leak, plugging it, then installing a solar power pump to drain it? Three days work vs 30 years… Are you – pardon my French – fkn insane?!
Bye Bye, Australia.
Anthony’s Story is part of Prosper’s irregular series of spontaneous, unsolicited contributions from disenchanted Australian citizens. How many of our best and brightest must leave to fulfill their dreams?
Same issues in NZ. most people here are so brainwashed they do not see the ram that the housing crisis/property bubble is causing.
Add to that, the equall of 5 years of Anthony’s life spent rotting in traffic jams commuting from his $600K home to his workplace.
Good forward thinking. After living overseas for a long stint I returned to australia at your age. It was in my opinion the peak of the housing boom as prices had doubled over two years and I was one if the few who didn’t think the momentum would continue. I decided not to buy and am amazed at everything the govt is throwing at housing to keep it afloat. I have mustered together more than double your target deposit but no way am I putting it into a single basket. Heading back overseas next year where I can bring my home owning dream to life. You’re 7 years ahead of me, go for it.
What are you thinking Anthony? What makes you think you should avoid being a debt slave when there are bankers bonuses to be paid – shame on you!
Luckily we have 457 visa recipients ti take tour place….
http://www.homeloanexperts.com.au/blog/temporary-residents/borrow-95-457-visa/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb+boosed+post&utm_content=Blog+post+-+457+Visa+95%25+Home+Loan%3A+Important+Policy+Change&utm_campaign=Fb+boosted+blog+post+-+457+Visa+95%25
Wow, only 30? Then there’s being 42 and on a single income, having saved twice that for a deposit, and STILL not being able to afford to buy – in Adelaide! And having the threat of impending unemployment due to budget cuts hanging over your head really make you question whether you want to even aspire to buying.
Who benefits from this system? Banks and rent-seekers – NO ONE else.
Good luck to him! We moved 2 years ago and it was worth it :D best decision of our lives. So many Aussies here! Were buying a place, brought our savings over and got a 10 year loan :D so we’ll be homeowners before were 35 yay.
It’s good to see the youth of Australia realise how they are getting the long hard end of the stick ;) their parents telling them to bend over and accept it. When all they have to do is stand up straight and walk away.
I’m on the west coast, feel free to email me if you have any problems settling! joshsnazzleraz@yahoo.com
Good luck Anthony !! now you can buy a decent house in Houston, claim some tax on your mortgage and save some for your rainy days. I am not far away from thinking of moving to US and thank you much for the time and effort on venting your frustration. It seems that none of these prime ministers including people so called governors have any clue or or either they are rotten to the core. I wonder how many politicians have negative gearing properties ? isn’t it conflict of interest ?
Good luck, Anthony. I’m an American who lived with my wife and two children in Melbourne. I fell for the story of thg e Australian economic miracle from afar and realized the week I got there that it was just a housing bubble. We are now in Austin about two and a half hours away. Feel free to contact me if you need anything at evan_zlotnick@yahoo.com be prepared to be amazed by housing prices.
I am also thinking of leaving the country. My case is slightly different though in that I have quite a sizeable deposit, can probably full paid an one bedroom apartment within 10km from Sydney CBD. However, I simply refuse to play a part in propping the housing bubble up. At this late stage of the game, you don’t want to be last holding the hot potato when the music stops.
Seriously? Nobody says you have to live and work in the city – country prices are quite reasonable. Nobody says you have to buy. Research has shown that people who rent and invest the difference they would’ve been paying on a mortgage are far better off financially over the long term. I think you should stop whining and consider how lucky you are to actually be living in Australia.
And before you all go off on me, no, I’m not a big property mogul trying to protect my patch. I’m 37 years old and I’ve worked hard and taken risks to try and get myself into a financially secure position. I’m not there yet, but I will continue to work hard to protect mine and my family’s future. That’s life bucko, do you really think life was that much easier for our parents? Wake up.
Thank you, Susan. The issue is not that country land is cheaper or that youngsters are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices. The problem is land prices have departed from wages and rents. FHB’s are at the lowest proportion of purchasers since detailed statistics of this cohort began.
Australia is designed as a property-owning democracy. Yet we face the prospect that two entire generations will be excluded from home-ownership – unless they can get an equity injection from mum and dad. Alongside this, we have an explosion in debt that in my estimation is simply unpayable. This unpleasant reality cannot be ignored.
Yes Susan, I agree with you. While property prices in Sydney are bonkers, they’re not much different from London or Paris or New York, so for my money I’m sticking with Australia – the best place to live in my opinion. Europe is so over-crowded – it’s coming apart at the seems; and as for the US, sorry folks, but wild horses wouldn’t drag me to America! Houses may be cheaper, okay, but there are so many things wrong with America it’s no surprise really. But this is not the forum for US bashing, so I’ll end there.
Owning a house is a right not a privilege, in whatever country it is. We, as voters, have allowed corrupt governments backed by the banks, real-estate industry, investors, property spruikers etc. to decide policy, These conglomerates have formed themselves into ‘special interest groups’ , buys political candidates, pays for their election campaigns, putting them into power. This corruption has destroyed Australia’s productivity. made it into one of the most expensive countries in the world, created massive debts and annihilated its economic power and we all voted for this result. We should self-reflect and stop supporting a political system that is like a cancer destroying the creativity of our youngest and brightest generation and especially allowing them to leave.
Bravo Anthony. We’re renters too, holding out for the bust when we can snap up a boomer mansion for less than market value when prices over-correct. That strategy though is wearing thin as the central banksters find ever more cunning ways of keeping the ponzi scheme going. Finding a safe place to keep your money outside of precious metals is tricky too due to the global asset price bubble and the likelihood of bail-ins, confiscation & even currency collapse when the stuff hits the fan. In the meantime this system siphons over half of our wages in taxes which pay for the health care and tax breaks of the boomer whose retirement our rent payments are funding. If I have to listen to one more older Australian talk like they’re Buffett cos they bought a house in the 90s…
If this goes on much longer we”re going to move to Malaysia where we can buy a house, start a business and still have discretionary income without going into debt. My wife is a doctor and I’m a professional doing a part-time PhD. We’re not bludgers and we’re not whingers. We’re certainly not willing to be slaves though either. A society which cannibalises its young is not worth living in.