‘If you want to buy a house then stop eating avacodo’

A PROPERTY tycoon has caused outrage in Australia by claiming young people could not buy homes because they wasted money on “smashed avocado”.

Tim Gurner, 35, whose property portfolio is worth £1.6billion, said he had to work 17 hours a day to pay off his first loan.

He was criticised for his “avocado economics” after commentators pointed out that cutting back on cafe breakfasts would hardly enable young people to afford Australia’s soaring property prices.

The average property price in Sydney is about £670,000, up 50 per cent in the past four years.

“When I was buying my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for 19 bucks and four coffees at $4 each,” Mr Gurner had told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes.

“This generation is watching the Kardashians and thinking that’s normal. Thinking that owning a Bentley is normal.” Critics were quick to point out that Mr Gurner, Australia’s 157th richest person, had used a £20,000 gift from his grandfather for his early business ventures.

“Someone who started out thanks to a handout from a family member is not in a position to suggest others can do the same if they just had the good sense to drink Nescafe rather than $4 lattes,” wrote Susie O’brien in Melbourne’s Herald Sun. “The reality is that house prices have outstripped wages growth in this country.” But Mr Gurner later stood by his claim, outlining the sacrifices he made to achieve his wealth and renovate his first property. “I spent every night on my hands and knees sanding back the floors, painting, renovating and working on the house,” he told news.com.au. Describing a subsequent loan which he used to buy and renovate a gym, he said he worked from 6am to 11pm on it. “They were also the darkest and hardest days of my life. I needed to stop at nothing to ensure I didn’t go under,” he said.