• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page

Sydney’s median house price to hit $2m, Perth $1m by 2027 (1 Viewer)

liamkk112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
1,026
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
Thanks for putting in the effort to provide a meaningful response. I don't disagree with the points you're making and your observation about rental property viewings, but I still don't chalk it all up to too much immigration (although it is still a contributing factor). I personally subscribe more to the view that the supply issue we have is due to housing density and zoning which prevents higher density living where it matters, and the structural changes which need to take place in order to facilitate this. It's simply not viable to have low density housing which makes up a large proportion of the residences (at least in Sydney) and expect all the conveniences, amenities and infrastructure which would require a much larger (and hence denser) population to sustain. In other words, whilst there is some increase in demand arising from migration, the economic benefits which come from more migrants to add to the skilled workforce, pay taxes, create demand for all the other things which the community needs, etc. outweigh this and should make it even more appealing for developers/builders once the regulations allow for it.

There's a Building Beautifully video which articulates this much better than I can.
yes the building beautifully video has so many good points and honestly pretty firmly debunks immigration as the issue in my eyes
 

liamkk112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
1,026
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
You know, for all the talk of property prices being out of control and "young people being priced out", people forget to mention that there is actually affordable housing in Sydney - they are called units. You can get a classic, reliable 2-1-1 unit from the 70s within 20 minutes to the Sydney CBD for around $500-$600k - this is more than achievable for a young couple or even a higher earning single. The fact is, people, especially young people are fixated on getting their dream house straight away and aren't willing to consider units.

I own two apartments, one in Sydney and another in Canberra and both buildings are majority tenanted. I know if I sold either they would almost certainly be purchased by investors, there simply isn't much owner occupier demand for these properties. What's sad is both of these properties would easily be within reach of young buyers.

As much as it pains me to say, I share the boomer mentality - young people have outlandish expectations and aren't willing to compromise and/or put in the work needed to get ahead. Im going to outright brag here - Im a millennial and by 29 I owned 3 properties. I acknowledge that I have been fortunate enough to have a great family, however I sacrificed a lot to get here. Namely:
  • I finished my degree 6 months early and I choose a path I knew would earn reliable money. Did I like my degree, no. Did I spend 6 years at university "finding my passion" like so many of my contemporaries did, no. I got in, got qualified and got out to start making money
  • I have been on 1 holiday in 15 years (a cheap 7 day cruise). I didn't spend 6 months backpacking through Europe to "find myself", nor did I go on yearly overseas holidays
  • The majority of my life in my 20s consisted of going to work and coming home to my laptop. I had no car (the first car I owned was at 31 and it was a 20 year old Toyota hand-me-down) and my phones/laptops were old hand-me-downs as well. I lived a spartan existence, I didn't really go out much until I met my partner at around 25. Even then, I took the bus/train to see her.
  • Most importantly, I lived at home. Whilst I acknowledge that I was incredibly fortunate to do so, the truth is the majority of young people out there have this option but refuse to take it. I remember being in uni and everyone was crapping on about moving out and living the share house life and being independent. I copped so much shit for choosing to stay at home, but you know what, those same people are now the ones having a whinge that they cant afford to rent much less buy a house
I was raised by immigrants who had the mentality that hard work comes before enjoyment and with a lot of my contemporaries, they want to have their cake and eat it to. I still think young people can get into the house game, but you need to spend your 20s (all of it, not just after you turn 25) focused on getting yourself established financially. Nice cars, gadgets and holidays are for after you have "made it", not before.
i think it’s very true that a lot of young people do not focus on getting a house / saving up, and it’s pretty much always been that way. it’s certainly a contributor to a lot of people saying they cant buy a house. but at the same time the amount of money (including inflation and all that) that it would cost to buy a 3-4 bedroom house even 10 or so years ago now is what will get you a 2 bedroom unit. it is certainly more tough to buy a big house, and more sacrifices need to be made. previous generations kind of lucked out in that they were able to live independently, spend years at uni etc and were still able to afford a house (not to knock their efforts at all), current day generations just don’t have that kind of opportunity and need to be somewhat more disciplined, not necessarily a bad thing at all.

i think australia as a whole also needs to reshuffle their expectations of housing, units are the way to go in sydney nowadays and the “australian dream” exactly contradicts this. personally im fine with living in a unit IF it is well maintained and building quality is fine cough cough mascot towers and a million other buildings in sydney, i know this is a minority of buildings but it certainly doesn’t help with the perception surrounding newer units in sydney. also we should really build bigger units or at least a diverse range of unit sizes, in order to accommodate for larger families in units, since currently i feel that’s another strong argument for why people aren’t interested in units
 

SylviaB

Just Bee Yourself 🐝
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
6,886
Location
Lidcombe
Gender
Female
HSC
2021
but I still don't chalk it all up to too much immigration (although it is still a contributing factor). I personally subscribe more to the view that the supply issue we have is due to housing density and zoning which prevents higher density living where it matters,
WHY do we need higher density housing?

Why was a lack of higher density housing never an issue in the past?

It's almost as if the sudden need for tens or hundreds of thousands more dwellings was exclusively caused by...immigration.

And if you bring in immigrants without 'fixing' the housing density/zoning issue, then then problem is caused by immigration. Fix these 'zoning problems', THEN consider bringing in immigrants (not that we need them at all anyway).

and the structural changes which need to take place in order to facilitate this. It's simply not viable to have low density housing which makes up a large proportion of the residences (at least in Sydney) and expect all the conveniences, amenities and infrastructure which would require a much larger (and hence denser) population to sustain
We don't need a larger population for 'conveniences'. A larger population is sydney has trivially made Sydney vastly less convenient to live in. This idea that more people = better stuff is a fantasy. Unless you think India is a great place to live? People aren't people - quality matters at least as much as quantity. If we need more people at all, we need people with the mean traits of Australa's existing population, not just more people in general. Because again, in this extremely simple 'more people = more gooder' model of the world, you cannot possibly explain why life is so much better in Sydney than Mumbai or Beijing.

In other words, whilst there is some increase in demand arising from migration, the economic benefits which come from more migrants to add to the skilled workforce, pay taxes,
What economic benefits? The only reason there's any net taxes being paid from immigrants at all is because living standards in places like Sydney are going BACKWARDS. Population growth is making life worse for most people, and if the government spent enough money to stop this being the case (or at least limited the extent to which it is the case) then you would very quickly find that there wouldn't be any extra taxes left over.

And if there's so many 'skilled workers', why are so many of them doing food delivery and uber?

create demand for all the other things which the community needs, etc.
Creating demand for medical services makes the existing population WORSE OFF, not better. Creating demand for road space makes them worse off. Creating demand for any physical or social infrastructure makes us worse off. If you're going to say that some immigrants are doctors, then just bring in the doctors.

outweigh this and should make it even more appealing for developers/builders once the regulations allow for it.
You keep saying this, but it's simply not true. WHERE are all these people who are supposed to build these apartments? There's already a shortage of construction workers, construction companies are failing every other week, material costs are through the roof. There's no regulation that magically solves these problems. And there's simply no benefit that the average immigrant brings that is possibly offset the costs

And of course, the best possible way to have more people is for the existing population to have more children. But immigration actually makes this worse, population density absolutely kills fertility, the inconvenience of life in Sydney kills fertility. And then this is used to justify even more immigration.
 

SylviaB

Just Bee Yourself 🐝
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
6,886
Location
Lidcombe
Gender
Female
HSC
2021
i think australia as a whole also needs to reshuffle their expectations of housing, units are the way to go in sydney nowadays and the “australian dream” exactly contradicts this. personally im fine with living in a unit IF it is well maintained and building quality is fine cough cough mascot towers and a million other buildings in sydney, i know this is a minority of buildings but it certainly doesn’t help with the perception surrounding newer units in sydney. also we should really build bigger units or at least a diverse range of unit sizes, in order to accommodate for larger families in units, since currently i feel that’s another strong argument for why people aren’t interested in units
Okay, so we have to make a massive sacrifice in our living standards to accomodate more people. What possible benefit are we getting in return for this sacrifice? The existence of fucking meal delivery services?

Australia simply does not need more people. None of our problems are caused by not having enough people, and people who categorically failed to build a country worth living in cannot improve our much better country.

Higher density housing destroys fertility and makes people miserable. You having access to MuLtIcUlTuRaL cuisines does not make up for the damage of this.
 

SylviaB

Just Bee Yourself 🐝
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
6,886
Location
Lidcombe
Gender
Female
HSC
2021
"The problem isn't immigration, it's that we're not building enough shoebox aparmtnets!"

'Why do we suddenly have to build so many apartments? Why was this never a problem in the past'?

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP FUCKING RACIST SHUT UP SHUT UP"
 

SylviaB

Just Bee Yourself 🐝
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
6,886
Location
Lidcombe
Gender
Female
HSC
2021
i think living in apartments is fine if its just u/ur partner but if u have kids its actually so hard, plus strata and annoying ass drunk neighbours
"We need to bring in millions of foreigners for some reason and also there should also magically be enough houses close to the city for everyone to own a house"
 

cosmo 2

the head cheese
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
661
Location
the hall of the hundred columns
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2023
demand for new housing in australia is almost entirely driven by immigration. australia has been below replacement fertility since 1978, if there had been no immigration since 1980 we would barely have needed to build absolutely anything. there'd be little need for a construction industry besides renovation, repair and knockdown/rebuilds etc otherwise.

substantial per capita declines in material wealth are inevitable as our population continues to grow beyond the outputs of our agricultural and mining/resource sectors. it's already happening in canada now which has a fairly similar (albeit more advanced) economy to australia.
 
Last edited:

liamkk112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
1,026
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
"The problem isn't immigration, it's that we're not building enough shoebox aparmtnets!"

'Why do we suddenly have to build so many apartments? Why was this never a problem in the past'?

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP FUCKING RACIST SHUT UP SHUT UP"
i think immigration is a part of the problem but to say it is the main contributor is pretty dumb. i think a bigger problem is not using our land correctly, as you say no one wants to live in a shoebox apartment, however at the same time almost no one wants to live in a 5 bedroom house if its on a floodplain, gets absurdly hot due to urban heat effect and is 2 hours from the city, which just happens to perfectly describe all of the new housing developments in sydney. sydney has literally run out of space in this sense, whether immigration happens or not we need to build more denser housing to add at least some supply that isn’t going to be flooded every 6 months to a year. doesn’t necessarily mean shoebox apartments, an unit complex would go a long way. realistically cutting immigration just isn’t the real solution to the problem
 

cosmo 2

the head cheese
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
661
Location
the hall of the hundred columns
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2023
i think immigration is a part of the problem but to say it is the main contributor is pretty dumb. i think a bigger problem is not using our land correctly, as you say no one wants to live in a shoebox apartment, however at the same time almost no one wants to live in a 5 bedroom house if its on a floodplain, gets absurdly hot due to urban heat effect and is 2 hours from the city, which just happens to perfectly describe all of the new housing developments in sydney. sydney has literally run out of space in this sense, whether immigration happens or not we need to build more denser housing to add at least some supply that isn’t going to be flooded every 6 months to a year. doesn’t necessarily mean shoebox apartments, an unit complex would go a long way. realistically cutting immigration just isn’t the real solution to the problem

this is fucking retarded lmao did you read anything we said at all

yimby supply side propaganda is bullshit

aus is already one of the biggest builders in the oecd and has one of highest construction : non construction worker ratios

yet completely fails to keep up with the endless demand created by immigration, which is literally what is driving demand, nothing else

it is the only solution to the problem because immigration is the problem
 

cosmo 2

the head cheese
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
661
Location
the hall of the hundred columns
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2023
demand for new housing in australia is almost entirely driven by immigration. australia has been below replacement fertility since 1978, if there had been no immigration since 1980 we would barely have needed to build absolutely anything. there'd be little need for a construction industry besides renovation, repair and knockdown/rebuilds etc otherwise.

substantial per capita declines in material wealth are inevitable as our population continues to grow beyond the outputs of our agricultural and mining/resource sectors. it's already happening in canada now which has a fairly similar (albeit more advanced) economy to australia.
 

liamkk112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
1,026
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
this is fucking retarded lmao did you read anything we said at all

yimby supply side propaganda is bullshit

aus is already one of the biggest builders in the oecd and has one of highest construction : non construction worker ratios

yet completely fails to keep up with the endless demand created by immigration, which is literally what is driving demand, nothing else

it is the only solution to the problem because immigration is the problem
im for cutting immigration to an extent but chalking the entire housing crisis up to immigration is also ignorant, if we snap our fingers and no more immigration is allowed in the country we will still be short of housing in sydney. you can argue that the damage has been done, but we can’t change that now and kick out everyone we’ve let in
 

cosmo 2

the head cheese
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
661
Location
the hall of the hundred columns
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2023
how is it almost entirely not immigrations fault if we've been below replacement fertility since 1978? who would we need to be building houses for if there wasn't any population growth? phantom people? on a long enough time frame in the absence of population growth supply would simply overwhelm demand because there'd be more houses than there are people due to people dying or leaving the country with no new people to replace them.

we'd still be short of housing because of the fucking migrants we already let in here before. if we started deporting a lot of people starting with the fake students though this would end up being resolved pretty fast without having to build a single unit or house.
 
Last edited:

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,897
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
i think it’s very true that a lot of young people do not focus on getting a house / saving up, and it’s pretty much always been that way. it’s certainly a contributor to a lot of people saying they cant buy a house. but at the same time the amount of money (including inflation and all that) that it would cost to buy a 3-4 bedroom house even 10 or so years ago now is what will get you a 2 bedroom unit. it is certainly more tough to buy a big house, and more sacrifices need to be made. previous generations kind of lucked out in that they were able to live independently, spend years at uni etc and were still able to afford a house (not to knock their efforts at all), current day generations just don’t have that kind of opportunity and need to be somewhat more disciplined, not necessarily a bad thing at all
I will agree it is much harder in this day and age to buy a house. However, I do think that people hold unrealistic expectations.

i think australia as a whole also needs to reshuffle their expectations of housing, units are the way to go in sydney nowadays and the “australian dream” exactly contradicts this. personally im fine with living in a unit IF it is well maintained and building quality is fine cough cough mascot towers and a million other buildings in sydney, i know this is a minority of buildings but it certainly doesn’t help with the perception surrounding newer units in sydney. also we should really build bigger units or at least a diverse range of unit sizes, in order to accommodate for larger families in units, since currently i feel that’s another strong argument for why people aren’t interested in units
If you look at most major cities (New York, Paris, Berlin, London etc), apartment living is the norm close to the CBD. Id argue Sydney is an outlier when it comes to actually having detached houses available so close to the CBD.

"The problem isn't immigration, it's that we're not building enough shoebox aparmtnets!"
Truth - we need low paid workers to do jobs Aussies wont do. I dont have an issue with immigration per se, but rather the governments abject failure to plan for population growth. The government is constantly playing catchup and it should be on the front foot. Build that trainline now for future demand, instead of waiting until the trains are overflowing before saying "geez, we need more trains".

At the moment, Australia is just not in a position to accept more people. We need to let infrastructure, housing and services to catchup first.
 

Duskheaven

Active Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
Messages
84
Gender
Female
HSC
2018
You know, for all the talk of property prices being out of control and "young people being priced out", people forget to mention that there is actually affordable housing in Sydney - they are called units. You can get a classic, reliable 2-1-1 unit from the 70s within 20 minutes to the Sydney CBD for around $500-$600k - this is more than achievable for a young couple or even a higher earning single. The fact is, people, especially young people are fixated on getting their dream house straight away and aren't willing to consider units.

I own two apartments, one in Sydney and another in Canberra and both buildings are majority tenanted. I know if I sold either they would almost certainly be purchased by investors, there simply isn't much owner occupier demand for these properties. What's sad is both of these properties would easily be within reach of young buyers.

As much as it pains me to say, I share the boomer mentality - young people have outlandish expectations and aren't willing to compromise and/or put in the work needed to get ahead. Im going to outright brag here - Im a millennial and by 29 I owned 3 properties. I acknowledge that I have been fortunate enough to have a great family, however I sacrificed a lot to get here. Namely:
  • I finished my degree 6 months early and I choose a path I knew would earn reliable money. Did I like my degree, no. Did I spend 6 years at university "finding my passion" like so many of my contemporaries did, no. I got in, got qualified and got out to start making money
  • I have been on 1 holiday in 15 years (a cheap 7 day cruise). I didn't spend 6 months backpacking through Europe to "find myself", nor did I go on yearly overseas holidays
  • The majority of my life in my 20s consisted of going to work and coming home to my laptop. I had no car (the first car I owned was at 31 and it was a 20 year old Toyota hand-me-down) and my phones/laptops were old hand-me-downs as well. I lived a spartan existence, I didn't really go out much until I met my partner at around 25. Even then, I took the bus/train to see her.
  • Most importantly, I lived at home. Whilst I acknowledge that I was incredibly fortunate to do so, the truth is the majority of young people out there have this option but refuse to take it. I remember being in uni and everyone was crapping on about moving out and living the share house life and being independent. I copped so much shit for choosing to stay at home, but you know what, those same people are now the ones having a whinge that they cant afford to rent much less buy a house
I was raised by immigrants who had the mentality that hard work comes before enjoyment and with a lot of my contemporaries, they want to have their cake and eat it to. I still think young people can get into the house game, but you need to spend your 20s (all of it, not just after you turn 25) focused on getting yourself established financially. Nice cars, gadgets and holidays are for after you have "made it", not before.
Disagree.
1. You're a freakish outlier
2.
You know, for all the talk of property prices being out of control and "young people being priced out", people forget to mention that there is actually affordable housing in Sydney - they are called units. You can get a classic, reliable 2-1-1 unit from the 70s within 20 minutes to the Sydney CBD for around $500-$600k - this is more than achievable for a young couple or even a higher earning single. The fact is, people, especially young people are fixated on getting their dream house straight away and aren't willing to consider units.

I own two apartments, one in Sydney and another in Canberra and both buildings are majority tenanted. I know if I sold either they would almost certainly be purchased by investors, there simply isn't much owner occupier demand for these properties. What's sad is both of these properties would easily be within reach of young buyers.

As much as it pains me to say, I share the boomer mentality - young people have outlandish expectations and aren't willing to compromise and/or put in the work needed to get ahead. Im going to outright brag here - Im a millennial and by 29 I owned 3 properties. I acknowledge that I have been fortunate enough to have a great family, however I sacrificed a lot to get here. Namely:
  • I finished my degree 6 months early and I choose a path I knew would earn reliable money. Did I like my degree, no. Did I spend 6 years at university "finding my passion" like so many of my contemporaries did, no. I got in, got qualified and got out to start making money
  • I have been on 1 holiday in 15 years (a cheap 7 day cruise). I didn't spend 6 months backpacking through Europe to "find myself", nor did I go on yearly overseas holidays
  • The majority of my life in my 20s consisted of going to work and coming home to my laptop. I had no car (the first car I owned was at 31 and it was a 20 year old Toyota hand-me-down) and my phones/laptops were old hand-me-downs as well. I lived a spartan existence, I didn't really go out much until I met my partner at around 25. Even then, I took the bus/train to see her.
  • Most importantly, I lived at home. Whilst I acknowledge that I was incredibly fortunate to do so, the truth is the majority of young people out there have this option but refuse to take it. I remember being in uni and everyone was crapping on about moving out and living the share house life and being independent. I copped so much shit for choosing to stay at home, but you know what, those same people are now the ones having a whinge that they cant afford to rent much less buy a house
I was raised by immigrants who had the mentality that hard work comes before enjoyment and with a lot of my contemporaries, they want to have their cake and eat it to. I still think young people can get into the house game, but you need to spend your 20s (all of it, not just after you turn 25) focused on getting yourself established financially. Nice cars, gadgets and holidays are for after you have "made it", not before.
Disagree.
1. You're obviously a freak. Assuming you're in the top 3% of income for your age, this can't be replicated on the individual level and certainly can be replicated on a societal level considering we need the functions of all jobs to be fulfilled. You're also likely just smarter than average. You can't just be taken as the expectation.

2. You have good very good circumstances.
Check Household wealth by decile attached. I imagine your parents have done well in regards to upward class mobility (most of which I imagine has been as the result of benefiting from rapidly increasing house prices). I imagine your parents are in a high decile - which is a circumstance completely out of your control showing how good you had it.

3. Most likely, you were able to go go an above average highschool & Ur parents supported your education.

4. You're 29, no kids. What you've done would be basically impossible with kids. For women, a year off work per kid also needs to be considered

5. Housing prices have increased from when you purchased in. By what %? possibly 50%? This makes it harder for the target audience you're talking to, especially, when people are still predicting house price increases.

6. Just going to reiterate that you didn't have to rent.

7. I'm just going to assume your parents didn't help you with your deposit.


Overall, you're a freak coming from great circumstances who benefited from rising property prices (which may/may not be the case future purchases).
 

Attachments

Last edited:

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,897
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
1. You're obviously a freak. Assuming you're in the top 3% of income for your age, this can't be replicated on the individual level and certainly can be replicated on a societal level considering we need the functions of all jobs to be fulfilled. You're also likely just smarter than average. You can't just be taken as the expectation.

2. You have good very good circumstances.
Check Household wealth by decile attached. I imagine your parents have done well in regards to upward class mobility (most of which I imagine has been as the result of benefiting from rapidly increasing house prices). I imagine your parents are in a high decile - which is a circumstance completely out of your control showing how good you had it.

3. Most likely, you were able to go go an above average highschool & Ur parents supported your education.

4. You're 29, no kids. What you've done would be basically impossible with kids. For women, a year off work per kid also needs to be considered

5. Housing prices have increased from when you purchased in. By what %? possibly 50%? This makes it harder for the target audience you're talking to, especially, when people are still predicting house price increases.

6. Just going to reiterate that you didn't have to rent.

7. I'm just going to assume your parents didn't help you with your deposit.


Overall, you're a freak coming from great circumstances who benefited from rising property prices (which may/may not be the case future purchases).
To answer:

1) I am a mid-level public servant (a senior individual contributor, not a manager), I make above average wage but certainly not the top-3%.
2) My mum is a secretary, Dad is a blue collar worker (he has a trade but doesn't use it). Between them they dropped out of school in Year 9 and 10 respectively. They have done well with property, however their liquidity is fair pedestrian. My parents situation is hardly unique.
3) I went to the local catholic school and throughout our upbringing, we were constantly told to work hard and save our money. Why? Because my grandparents grew up in abject poverty - not the Australian kind, but the third world kind. They didn't want their children to experience the same. On a tangent, my partner is an Anglo-Australian and culturally, they dont seem to have any drive when it comes to finances or building better lives. I grew up with immigrants (Italians, Greeks, Arabs, Viets, Chinese, Indians etc) and almost universally, these ethnics had a determination to succeed in life and get ahead financially. Aussies on the other hand just coast through life with an IDGAF attitude. This probably why its always a Darlene Jones on ACA complaining about not being able to afford rent, not a Bu Jinwang or a Gianpiero Calluzzi (hell Darlene is probably one of their tenants).
4) Im 31 with no children - if I had children before I was financially capable, that isn't anyone else's fault but my own.
5) I invest for cash-flow primarily, not capital gain. So I've probably seen a total increase in value of around 15-20%.
6) I did rent for two years whilst my partner and I built our new home and I agree, it sucks. Hence why I knuckled down and worked hard to avoid that being anything other than a temporary necessity.
7) My parents went guarantor, which was a huge help I will admit. However, it probably saved me around 12 months total, so not the difference between success and failure

Im not saying everyone can do this - my partner grew up with very little. Furthermore, due to her home-life she needed to move out at 18. In her situation, I agree there is very little one can do. It would have been significantly more difficult for her to own a home given those circumstances.

As I said above, staying at home for as long as possible is probably the best thing you can do in terms of setting yourself up financially and buying property. The reality is, many people have this option but they choose not to exercise it because they want their independence or whatever. Furthermore, there are some great affordable properties out there, you can get a 2-1-1 unit 15-20 minutes from the Canberra CBD for around $320k. This is very affordable for a lot of people, however good luck finding anyone other than an investor to purchase it. People just arent willing to settle and be realistic.

I have all the time in the world for people like my partner who are doomed by circumstance. I have no time for those who have decent circumstances but make bad decisions and complain when they cant get their financial act together.
 

souli

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2022
Messages
299
Location
raiding dymocks ✔
Gender
Female
HSC
2024
  • I finished my degree 6 months early and I choose a path I knew would earn reliable money. Did I like my degree, no. Did I spend 6 years at university "finding my passion" like so many of my contemporaries did, no. I got in, got qualified and got out to start making money
  • I have been on 1 holiday in 15 years (a cheap 7 day cruise). I didn't spend 6 months backpacking through Europe to "find myself", nor did I go on yearly overseas holidays
  • The majority of my life in my 20s consisted of going to work and coming home to my laptop. I had no car (the first car I owned was at 31 and it was a 20 year old Toyota hand-me-down) and my phones/laptops were old hand-me-downs as well. I lived a spartan existence, I didn't really go out much until I met my partner at around 25. Even then, I took the bus/train to see her.
  • Most importantly, I lived at home. Whilst I acknowledge that I was incredibly fortunate to do so, the truth is the majority of young people out there have this option but refuse to take it. I remember being in uni and everyone was crapping on about moving out and living the share house life and being independent. I copped so much shit for choosing to stay at home, but you know what, those same people are now the ones having a whinge that they cant afford to rent much less buy a house
ask yourself this question: was it worth it?
you have one life. is it worth it to spend almost half of your youth living to work and not working to live? when everyone is 6ft underground; it doesn't matter how much money you made or how many apartments you managed to own. did you truly enjoy your life overworking yourself to keep up with something that was never in your favour?

it's distressing that this kind of strenuous lifestyle is being normalised.
 

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,897
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
ask yourself this question: was it worth it?
you have one life. is it worth it to spend almost half of your youth living to work and not working to live? when everyone is 6ft underground; it doesn't matter how much money you made or how many apartments you managed to own. did you truly enjoy your life overworking yourself to keep up with something that was never in your favour?

it's distressing that this kind of strenuous lifestyle is being normalised.
It was absolutely 100% worth it. I sacrificed when I was young to set myself up later in life. Now, in my 30s I have financial stability, live in a brand new home on a huge plot of land and pretty much have the freedom to explore my interests. I also have a good government job which has very good flexibility/work-life balance (I WFH 5 days a week). If you don't believe me, ask my partner what she prefers, this life or the yolo, paycheck to paycheck instability she grew up with.

If my plan comes to fruition, within 5 years Ill gradually cut my working hours down with the aim of retiring in my 40s. If I had lived it up in my 20s, Id be staring down the barrel of working until I drop dead.

As much as boomers annoy the shit out of me (I have had the misfortune of working with many of them over the years), many did sacrifice. My grandfather left his whole family behind to come out here for a better life. He worked 6 days a week in a factories since he was 15 (I went to his work before he retired, it wasn't a pretty picture). My parents sacrificed a lot too when they were young as well, mum had minimal maternity leave and worked 7 days a week for many years. Dad also worked shift. However, that hard work paid off, my grandfather retired at 60 on the dot and mum and dad will be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Look, Im not saying you need to just work until your dead. However, when you are young you need to sacrifice and put in the work so things get easier and that is something many young people dont understand. Holidays, flash cars, "finding yourself" being independent etc are things you do once you have financial stability, not before it.
 

spiderfan44

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2024
Messages
745
Gender
Female
HSC
2024
im going to become the walter white of environmental science to afford a mortgage on a house by accepting bribes to allow companies to use asbestos as air conditioner filters in schools #GRIND
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top