Housing Affordability for GEN Y

[kathryn d]

I was 6 when my parents bought their first house. It had an outhouse

When it came time for my house, (not our mobile) it was 'water tight' when we moved in. No kitchen. A toilet and a bathtub. No hot water.

Skater is right.
A lot of people wouldn't do, what we were or our parents were willing to do.

My best friend at school, didn't get indoor plumbing until we were 10.
Hot water came from the water chamber, attached to the woodstove, they cooked on in the kitchen.

Other friends, didn't have internal doors in their homes. They lived in, what they could afford. (it used to be a building that housed coffins)

Another friend lived in a 3 bedroom mobile home. Family consisted of 2 parents, 3 kids, and their boarder.

 

[Richard Feynman]

If you're waiting for your parents' inheritance, you'd be waiting for a VERY long time these days.

Let's say you're 25 and your folks were 55. Chances are they'd live to 90 these days. So you have another 35 years to wait (you'd be 60) before you apply for the First Home Owner's Grant on Mars.

Funnily enough, we may well have started to colonise mars in 35 years.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/17/elon-musk-mission-mars-spacex

 

[The Fence]

Hot water came from the water chamber, attached to the woodstove, they cooked on in the kitchen.

At 20 yrs old I moved into a house on a farm with exactly the same thing and it was great!

Loved the old wood stove on those winter nights and days and especially how we used to get it fired up so much we could hear the water boiling in the chamber!

Cooked THE best roast dinners in that stove and bacon & eggs straight on the hot plate on top!

Was a bit inconvenient in Summer though, having a wood stove going in the kitchen, which bye the way was in the centre of the house, but only needed it on for a day or so the hot water would last for a few days.

Rest of the time in summer we bathed in the creek or under the hose out back.

That house only had a small water tank and no bore water, so we have been water conservative ever since!
It think the rent was $20/wk back in the early 80's and was contract fencing on $9/hr !

 

[spanna]

Have YOU ever had an outside dunny or a leaking roof.

It's not like these things were everywhere, you know. They WEREN'T THE MEDIAN PRICE HOUSE of the time. We couldn't afford that. SO WE BOUGHT WHAT WE COULD AFFORD. The crappiest house in the crappiest suburbs.

And this point alone is why we all get so annoyed with many of the (usually younger, but not always) whingers saying how they can't afford a damn house.

Almost anyone CAN afford one. The point is, WILL they? Will they take the crappy house, the house in the bad suburb, the house with the long commute etc? Will they leave family & friends to do it, if necessary? In many cases the answer is a resounding NO.

Question to ask is......... Will buying "That crappy house that we can afford" yield the similar growth that our parents, or parents before them had? Who knows........ I think some crappy houses might... defiantly not the majority as was the case for previous generations?? population growth has slowed to much for this to be possible.

 

[skater]

If anything Skater and her peers are above average for their time and bought below average and got ahead that way and good for them. Unless leaking roofs were the norm back then?

Wrong! I was on below average wage, a woman (when banks didn't want to lend to women), and bought the only thing that I could afford. My mantra was that rent money was dead money. I'd rather buy something crappy & it be mine, than to rent, and have nothing to show for it.

 

[skater]

Question to ask is......... Will buying "That crappy house that we can afford" yield the similar growth that our parents, or parents before them had? Who knows........ I think some crappy houses might... defiantly not the majority as was the case for previous generations?? population growth has slowed to much for this to be possible.

The crappy house rises in line with everything else in the same suburb. I bought that crappy house for $56k and sold it much later for $156k. The new owners demolished it & built a nice large brick house instead.

And I know that's still ancient history, but I'll compare it to something newer. The crappy burnt out houses in 2770. As prices are rising, you now have to pay around $200k for one of these beauties, where not that long ago you could purchase a house in liveable condition for that price.

 

[Dan_p]

Wrong! I was on below average wage, a woman (when banks didn't want to lend to women), and bought the only thing that I could afford. My mantra was that rent money was dead money. I'd rather buy something crappy & it be mine, than to rent, and have nothing to show for it.

Skater, I wasn't referring to wage, I was referring to foresight and commitment.

 

[BayView]

Skater, I wasn't referring to wage, I was referring to foresight and commitment.

Up until age 25 I had bugger-all commitment financially to much.

Pretty much the same as how the current crop of Gen Y's are portrayed.

But - and I hope they are similar - I had a damn good work ethic and dedication to my chosen profession of that time, and eventually got my act together, and I didn't whine and carry on how hard it was/is on every bloody social media known to man.

So, there's hope for them that put the nose down and the bum up.

 

[skater]

Skater, I wasn't referring to wage, I was referring to foresight and commitment.

Ah, OK, I get you.

I'd have to say I had zero foresight. I loved looking at houses, but never thought I'd ever get one. I did get a small loan from my parents to help, but it was only when I sat down, did the sums & worked it out that I could afford it, that I took action.

As for commitment, well yes, heaps of commitment. Over the years we could have easily lost the lot several times, but we're the sort that just cut all expenditure to the bone to hold on.

 

[kathryn d]

Over the years we could have easily lost the lot several times, but we're the sort that just cut all expenditure to the bone to hold on.

This is what I've referred to in our lives, as survival mode.
Been there a couple of times.

 

[Norwester]

KD,

This is what I've referred to in our lives, as survival mode.
Been there a couple of times.

Same here.

Nothing worse than not being able to feed your kids....seriously...

Whilst the whining is always somewhat amusing on these type of threads, it'll be no where as funny as when the next recession rolls around. And it will of course it will......

Fractional reserve banking....

Ciao

Nor

 

[roe]

So much emotion when it comes to this sort of stuff, not just here but almost every where you read on many other forums.

I am right in the middle of Gen X and Y so here is my take, it is always hard buying a house but I do believe it probably easier a decade back than the people buying it today.

But nothing is impossible if you put you mind to it, make sacrificed here and there, prepare to wear short term pain for long term gain.

The best thing you can do is accept that house price is high and stay high, next step is how are you going to afford it rather than think everyone had it easy it is too hard for me.

 

[Deltaberry]

You just have to make realistic assessments.

Eg if you're in HK, you probably shouldn't try to save every dollar to buy a house, because chances are it'll correct in the short to medium term.

If you're in Sydney, the same may be said (although with less certainty).

If you're in Melbourne or Brisbane, and you can't afford a house, trust me it's not going to get any easier in the next 5 years.

 

[HotRod]

So much emotion when it comes to this sort of stuff, not just here but almost every where you read on many other forums.

I am right in the middle of Gen X and Y so here is my take, it is always hard buying a house but I do believe it probably easier a decade back than the people buying it today.

But nothing is impossible if you put you mind to it, make sacrificed here and there, prepare to wear short term pain for long term gain.

The best thing you can do is accept that house price is high and stay high, next step is how are you going to afford it rather than think everyone had it easy it is too hard for me.

I beg to differ.

HIA-CBA research (from May 2013) had their Housing Affordability Index at about the same as about 10 years ago.

Ergo, about the same to afford today as ten years ago.

 

[lizzie]

... although it has had it's up's and down's in the last 10 years.

If you had enough for a good deposit, and could borrow in 2009, it was a great opportunity to buy - but terrible in 2008.

2003 was a terrible year to buy - but 2004 was good.

Opportunities will come again for those who are not afraid.

 

[Colin Rice]

Opportunities will come again for those who are not afraid.

"The deal of a lifetime comes along every week"!