Who is Australia's first home buyer? The ABS has a number of interesting statistics regarding the identities of Australia's first home buyers. The average age is between 31 and 33 and the majority are couples, with about half of these including children.
We polled our audience to get the goss on who owns what. Of those polled, 43% of people own a house or property already (excuse me?!). Of the owners, 9% were aged 18 – 24 when they bought, while 25% were aged 25 – 30, and 14% were 31 – 35.
Key statistics
66% of Australian households owned their own home with or without a mortgage. 31% of households rented their home. Average weekly housing costs were: $493 for owners with a mortgage; $54 for owners without a mortgage; and $379 for renters.
1.6% of Australians own 2 investment properties.
This line graph shows that the proportion of owners without a mortgage declined from about 42% in 1994–95 to 30% in 2019–20. This line graph shows that the proportion of owners with a mortgage increased from about 30% in 1994–95 to 37% in 2019–20.
While there are a lot of factors involved, the average age when people move out of their parent's home is somewhere between 24 and 27. This makes logical sense – it's after many people have completed college and around the time when most people get married and/or are in a long-term relationship.
Before the pandemic, the average age of a first-time buyer was 32, based on analysis of Land Registry data and figures from comparison website GetAgent's partner estate agents.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that just over half of millennials are homeowners. This compares with 62% of gen X and two-thirds of baby boomers when they were at the same age. For those millennials aspiring to own a home, the difficulty in doing so can damage their future plans.
Here's how many properties investors hold in Australia: 5% of investors hold 1 investment property. 18% of investors hold 2 investment properties. 7% of investors hold 3, 4, or 5 investment properties.
It was interesting. The webinar was about the fact that the people born between 1946 and 1964, known as the Baby Boomer generation, are the wealthiest generation in Australian history. According to the ABS, about 5.7 million Baby Boomers in Australia make up about 22% of the population.
Generation X made up 24% of total buyers. They had the highest median household income of any generation ($114,300), followed by older millennials ($102,900). In addition to leading the way in home buying, baby boomers remained the largest home seller generation, jumping from 42% in 2021 to 52% in 2022.
It's never too late to invest in property
Investing involves maximising returns by using your income-producing years to hold investments over the long term. So, with at least 10 to 15 years of working life still in front of most 50-year-olds, property is still an exceptional investment to consider.
Short answer: no, they can't. The 2004 Age Discrimination Act officially prevents any lenders or brokers from shutting their financial door in your face if you've an over-40s FHB.
Assuming the median age of the typical “move up,” or second-time home buyer is roughly 40 years old (given the simple math of 33 + 8), a median repeat buyer age around 55 means that a lot more people in their 50s, 60s and 70s are acquiring third, fourth, or even fifth properties.
By the time you're 40, a majority of your financial struggles should be over. You may still be saving and planning for retirement, but you aren't entirely done yet.
The national average age for marriage today in the United States is 27 years old for women and 29 years old for men. This, of course, varies from state to state. Most people will marry between the ages of 25 and 30. Women get married at a younger average age than men get married.
For men and women, there should be no specific age to leave their parents' house. Rather, it should be about a stage in their life. This stage can include a state of comfortable financial well-being or a state of developed sense of reasoning. The goal is to get prepared for adulthood, not get thrown into adulthood.
50 years old: Most lenders will allow you to borrow but some may decline your application due to your age. 55 years old: Almost all lenders will require a written exit strategy, evidence of your superannuation and other assets that can be sold to repay the proposed debt.
Many lenders will be happy to offer you a mortgage if you're over 50, with a standard 25-year term and competitive interest rates often available.
The size of the loan and your ability to repay will determine how much you can borrow. But in essence the loan needs to be finalised by the time you reach age 65 if you cannot show evidence of a reoccurring income that will service the debt post 65.
A survey conducted amongst property investors in Australia in August 2022 revealed that around one third of respondents were aged between 36 to 45 years old. Those aged under 25 years old made up less than one percent of the respondents.
Capital works deductions
If a property was built after 15 September 1987 you'd be able to claim 2.5% depreciation each year until it was 40 years old. So, if a property originally cost $100,000 to build in 1990, you could claim $2,500 each year until 2030.
The best time to invest is when you're likely to earn a steady and increasing income for seven to 10 years. Think ahead to personal commitments that may affect your income level. Reduce non-deductible debt before investing. Don't borrow more than you can comfortably afford to repay.
Their higher net worth is expected: with most baby boomers financially planning for at least a few more decades, they benefit from wealth earned from long careers and have more robust retirement accounts than the silent generation, who have dipped further into retirement savings.
"A study shows that millennials will hold five times as much wealth as they have today and the group is anticipated to inherit over $68 trillion from their baby boomer elders by the year 2030," Morley Winograd, author of three books on the millennial generation, told Newsweek, quoting a 2019 research by Coldwell Banker ...