HOME BUYERS NEED HELP

IT’S tempting and no one can blame young people from investing the price of a coffee in buying a chance.

But Lady Luck cannot be relied on as a guaranteed way of breaking into the property market to realise the great Australian dream of home ownership.

Nevertheless, as the Bulletin reports today, the number of Australians aged 25-34 who are buying tickets in RSL Art Union prize homes has doubled in the past two years, coinciding with a shift in property market values that is threatening to deny young people their opportunity.

RSL figures are not an official indicator of the state of the market and ownership, but Australian Bureau of Statistics figures and a study by the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Institute are a good guide.

According to the ABS, between 60 and 70 per cent of all Australians owned their own homes in the years between 1971 and 2001. But leading economist Saul Eslake was reported recently lamenting a huge decline since then, with the Melbourne Institute predicting that a tipping point will be reached this year where fewer than 50 per cent of Australians will own their own homes. It is a bleak outlook for many and a worrying comment on who benefits and who misses out in the current economic climate.

Investors may be celebrating soaring values, and good luck to them for their good fortune and for having the foresight to use their money wisely when they had the chance.

But the state of the market is also locking young Australians – the future of this country – out of what was so readily available to their parents and grandparents. Their wages are not increasing anywhere near as much as property values.

Treasurer Scott Morrison announced measures in the Federal Budget to try to give first-home buyers a leg up. Experts were guarded in their response, with the National Australia Bank suggesting the impact would be marginal and unlikely to result in reduced prices.

The Gold Coast enjoys a booming market in the good times. That’s great for the local economy, but it is important that everyone is given a fair go at buying their slice of the dream. From the Government down, we can all do better.