Not sure what all the whinging is about, I'm a gen y and have had no problem getting into the market. It's all about taking small steps, you can't jump to your ideal house straight on your grad salarly. Also if you can't afford it, team up with someone, buy it with your significant other, sibling, parents etc.
Exactly. Baby steps and some flexibility, although you have managed to buy into an oustanding locality. Well done
My story:
Melbournian, started my grad job in March 09 on an average grad wage. Travelled frequently while at uni so my savings weren't huge, about 6k worth of shares and 10k worth of cash. Was living with my parents at the time, and being good with my money/savings was able to put away 70% of my take home wage. My gf was still at uni in her final year, she was lucky enough to be on a scholarship was had a bit of savings.
Did lots of research, was flexible on suburbs as long as they had shown good growth previously. Didn't follow the trend or panicked when prices were skyrocketing. Managed to buy a 2 bedder in Prahran for 350k (by our valuation it was worth 380k, but the place wasn't in pristine condition and advertised poorly). Put some floorboards in, got it revalued early this year at 420k.
Textbook stuff.....improve, re-val, suck out equity and go again.
Used the equity and then saved some more to buy our first IP (my gf now also working fulltime), a 2 bed house also in Prahran. We also did months of research before we bought. We found this place that seemed to have slipped through the cracks, also advertised poorly and had been on the market for a while (only 1 photo up on Domain and no floorplan, vendor wanted to save costs). From original asking price of 720k in May, we bought it for 660k with 90 days settlement (could have been even cheaper but there was another buyer who stumbled across it at the same time we did). It'll be negatively gear initially (as most Melbourne properties in the inner east/south east are), but we've left a good buffer so servicing is not an issue.
Those who research and do thorough DD reapeth the rewards
Lots of people at work, some earning lots more money than me are so surprised that we've managed to buy two properties and they are still renting. The difference is that they've just sat back and dismissed property as too expensive now, whereas we've spent every moment of our time doing research/DD and have actually taken active steps to get into property.