{"id":435094,"date":"2026-01-24T20:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435094\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T20:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:03:19","slug":"great-aussie-home-ownership-dream-aging-as-banks-see-more-first-time-buyers-above-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435094\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Aussie home ownership dream aging as banks see more first-time buyers above 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite saving for the best part of seven years, Maddy has given up on the prospect of buying a home in Australia.<\/p>\n

The healthcare worker from Melbourne, who has asked to only share her first name, went to 70 inspections last year, and made three offers, only for the homes to sell for more than $100,000 above asking price.<\/p>\n

“Even with a really healthy deposit, because the prices have increased so substantially so quickly, to put myself in that level of debt, I’d have to borrow, I guess the maximum that I’m allowed.”<\/p>\n

The average age to purchase your first home has risen as salaries struggle to keep up with soaring house prices \u2014 statistics compiled by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show a lower portion of young people owning homes.<\/p>\n

Maddy, who is 30-years-old, told the ABC she isn’t comfortable with taking out that amount of debt to service a mortgage, and has made the decision to instead move overseas in the coming years to start a family.<\/p>\n

“I think having looked at all of the factors, that just feels more viable and that’s crazy, but it’s just the reality,” she said.First home buyers getting older<\/p>\n

The number of home owners who are between 25-29 years-old dropped from 50 per cent in 1971, to 36 per cent in 2021.<\/a><\/p>\n

For 30-34-year-olds, it fell from 64 per cent to 50 per cent in the same 30 year period.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Each successive generation since baby boomers is moving further away from the 25-39-year-old home ownership bracket.\u00a0 (Australian Bureau of Statistics)<\/p>\n

Westpac was the only one of the major banks contacted by ABC News to provide current statistics on the age of first home buyers across their lending book.<\/p>\n

Westpac data reveals the average age of a first home buyer today is 34-years-old across the bank’s network, with one in five first home buyer loans issued last year going to those aged over 40.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The profile of a first home buyer has changed quite a bit, even if you just think over the last five or so years,” ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said.<\/p>\n

“On average you are seeing that typically that first time buyer is older, they have more money, they have a higher paying job and that’s helping them get into the market.”\"Woman<\/p>\n

ANZ economist Madeline Dunk says the profile of a first home buyer has changed over the past five years. (Supplied: Madeline Dunk\u00a0)<\/p>\n

It now takes nearly six years on average for a household to save enough for a 20 per cent deposit on a median-priced home, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past 30 years, according to the Commonwealth Bank’s latest PropTrack report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Simple<\/p>\n

Average number of years it takes a household to save enough for a 20 per cent deposit on a home. (Supplied: PropTrack, ABS)<\/p>\n

When it comes to an average home loan across Australia, that figure sits at $694,000, more than doubling over the past 10 years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n

The numbers were highest in New South Wales, at $828,000, and lowest in the Northern Territory, at $481,000.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The average loan size for an owner occupier dwelling across Australia in September 2025 was $694,000. (Supplied: Australian Bureau of Statistics)<\/p>\n

Ms Dunk said while the expanded first home buyer guarantee scheme \u2014 which saw 29,274 properties bought in September 2025, allows more people into the market with a smaller loan, it doesn’t account for the amount needed for servicing and mortgage repayments.<\/p>\n

“I think that is an additional barrier, and if you’re on a low income, it makes it all the more challenging, particularly in an environment where interest rates have gone up quite a bit over recent years.”<\/p>\n

Housing a political hot potato<\/p>\n

A home is no longer about meeting a basic need, but instead about accumulating wealth, according to independent economist Saul Eslake, which he said has warped the way we view it within a cost of living framework.<\/p>\n

\"Saul<\/p>\n

Independent economist Saul Eslake says increasing house prices are better for political votes. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

“Surprisingly, the biggest thing in the CPI (consumer price index \u2014 the main measure of inflation), which is the cost of housing, somehow, when that goes down, that’s a bad thing, and the government ought to do something about it.<\/p>\n

“And if it goes up, that’s a cause for celebration, whereas everything else on the CPI, we treat the opposite way.”<\/p>\n

Mr Eslake argued politicians aren’t taking the housing crisis seriously, with both major parties at the last election offering policies that would increase house prices.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Homes under the first home buyer guarantee scheme price cap grew 3.6 per cent in the December quarter, while homes above the price cap grew 2.4 per cent. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

“That actually tells you why we have a problem, for all the crocodile tears that politicians of all stripes shed for the difficulties faced by aspiring first home buyers, they know that in any given year \u2026 there are only between about 110,000 and 150,000 of them.”<\/p>\n

The expanded first home buyers guarantee scheme has pushed up the price of cheaper housing in both metro and regional cities.<\/p>\n

According to new data from Cotality, homes under the price cap grew 3.6 per cent in the December quarter, while homes above the price cap grew 2.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

Mr Eslake said to win majority votes on housing policies, politicians are looking to those already in the market.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The dream of owning your own home has become a nightmare for many Australians. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n

“At any point in time there are 11 million Australians who own their own home \u2026 and there are two and a half million Australians who own at least one investment property.<\/p>\n

“A million votes for cheaper housing, as opposed to maybe 12 million votes for more expensive housing, even the dumbest of our politicians can do their math.”<\/p>\n

As someone who has been trying to enter the market, Maddy worries about the long-term impact the current housing market will have on Australia.<\/p>\n

Follow the money as 2026’s economy asks big questions of all of us<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s top economists talk interest rate hikes and market movements.<\/p>\n

“I don’t even want to refer to housing as a dream \u2026 I think it’s a minimum requirement that people should be able to afford their own home.<\/p>\n

“If you take that away from people, you take their hope, you take their foundation \u2026 you take their ability to have a family and feel stable and safe within their community.”2026 predictions<\/p>\n

Economists are preparing for a softer year of house price increases, after December produced the smallest monthly increase in five months,<\/a> up 0.7 per cent.<\/p>\n

Of that, Sydney and Melbourne property markets went backwards by 0.1 per cent in December for the first time since January last year.<\/p>\n

\"Generic<\/p>\n

Sydney and Melbourne property markets went backwards by 0.1 per cent in December for the first time since January last year. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

Predictions around interest rate cuts have also shifted.<\/p>\n

“I think the rhetoric around what the RBA is going to do has shifted from the potential for more cuts to the potential for actually hikes in 2026 and that’s flowed through into sentiment in the housing market,” Madeline Dunk said.<\/p>\n

RBA’s long game on inflation<\/a><\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank says inflation is “too high”, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily rush to raise interest rates next month.<\/p>\n

“I do expect that the investor may be a little less active this year relative to last year given that shift in expectations around rates,” she said.<\/p>\n

Saul Eslake has said the housing crisis in Australia has become so dire, that his advice to young people has almost become a joke.<\/p>\n

“Without wanting to sound facetious you tend to just say, partner with someone who has rich parents, and I’m being sarcastic in saying that because I think it’s a terrible state of affairs where that seems to be the most obvious solution.”<\/p>\n

In order to fix it, he says Australia has three options.<\/p>\n

“One is that a sufficiently large proportion of people who already own homes become sufficiently altruistically concerned for the prospects that their children and grandchildren become home owners that they are willing to vote for policies that will stop the escalation of house prices.<\/p>\n

“The second is if a sufficient number of the same group of people get sick of having to be the bank of mum and dad.<\/p>\n

“Or third \u2026 the same group of people get sick and tired of their 25 plus 35 plus kids still living at home.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite saving for the best part of seven years, Maddy has given up on the prospect of buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5629,64,63,13110,11147,227252,7688,39045,5476,5474,187,21131,44,19604,1003,227253,44706,26945,12973,1781,8420],"class_list":["post-435094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-anz","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-debt","tag-first-home-buyer","tag-first-home-buyer-guarantee-scheme","tag-housing","tag-housing-affordability","tag-investing","tag-investment","tag-money","tag-mortgage","tag-news","tag-property-prices","tag-real-estate","tag-repayments","tag-saul-eslake","tag-save","tag-saving","tag-savings","tag-westpac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}