{"id":867979,"date":"2026-08-25T15:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867979\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:10:18","slug":"young-australians-first-to-fall-behind-on-home-ownership-report-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/867979\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Australians first to fall behind on home ownership, report shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

More young people are abandoning hopes of home ownership amid increasing generational inequality, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

Anglicare’s Falling Behind report, released on Tuesday, found home ownership among 25-34 year olds has fallen to an 80-year low \u2014 highlighting intergenerational inequality from tax settings that favoured housing investment.<\/p>\n

Young Australians are facing a future where working hard does not guarantee security, Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said after the report’s release.<\/p>\n

“The economic foundations underneath them have shifted,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Chambers said there was a perfect storm that led to inequality between the generations.<\/p>\n

“What we can see is that we’ve got young people coming into a workforce that is more insecure, we can see that we’ve got increased costs,” she said.<\/p>\n

“People are studying longer. We know that it takes much longer to save a deposit for a house in terms of the annual average income versus the deposit.”<\/p>\n

\"Kasy<\/p>\n

Kasy Chambers has called for more measures to even the financial playing field. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)<\/p>\n

Investment tax breaks fuelling the generational divide<\/p>\n

Anglicare’s report found older Australians “appear insulated” from today’s economic pressures, having earned wages during a stable period in the job market and amassed wealth from investments which are taxed less severely than wages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report found that while older Australians’ wealth has significantly increased over time, their share of income tax has not.<\/p>\n

It said young people are “absorbing the impact” with lower wages proportional to house prices and cost of living \u2014 affording less opportunity to amass wealth.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government this year introduced tax changes on investments including shares, investment properties and the sale of businesses.<\/p>\n

What Labor’s tax changes really mean for you<\/a><\/p>\n

Labor’s capital gains tax changes have set off a firestorm of debate about the implications for small businesses, start-ups, share owners and plenty more. Here’s who will really pay more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled the sweeping changes in the May budget<\/a>, describing them as the “most important and ambitious” reforms in decades, which would make the system “fairer and stronger for workers, businesses, first home buyers and future generations”.<\/p>\n

Ms Chambers welcomed the federal government’s efforts to remove tax breaks for investment income, but said more measures were needed from the federal government to even the playing field.<\/p>\n

“We need to look at taxing wealth the same way as income, because otherwise, what we’re seeing is that the wealth gets concentrated,” she told reporters in Canberra.<\/p>\n

“Once it gets concentrated, it’s very difficult to share that again … one dollar is one dollar in taxation terms.”<\/p>\n

Low welfare payments prevent youth from catching up\"A<\/p>\n

Young Australians are eligible for less support from Centrelink despite facing the same costs as older people. (ABC News: Curtis Rodda)<\/p>\n

The Anglicare head also called for a shake-up to the Youth Allowance payment, citing the report’s findings that young Australians are eligible for less support from Centrelink despite facing the same costs as older people.<\/p>\n

How will new unemployment changes affect Centrelink recipients?<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal government has proposed changes to Australia’s $2 billion employment services system.<\/p>\n

The maximum payment amount for a single person with no children on Youth Allowance is $677.20 a fortnight.<\/p>\n

The rate is below the poverty line, JobSeeker and the aged pension, which Ms Chambers said is contributing to generational inequality.<\/p>\n

“We have a social security system that literally says a young person needs less money to live on simply because of their age,” Ms Chambers said.<\/p>\n

“Rent isn’t cheaper when you’re 23. Groceries aren’t cheaper. Electricity isn’t cheaper. Yet young people are expected to survive on the lowest payment in the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Poverty should not be a rite of passage.”<\/p>\n

The report also highlighted that a single person on JobSeeker falls behind by $251 a week after paying for rent, food and transport \u2014 while a single parent on parenting payment falls behind by $174 a week and a couple with two children on JobSeeker falls behind by $428 a week.<\/p>\n

It found nearly half of all low-income renters aged under 35 are experiencing rental stress, and not a single rental property across the country was affordable for a single person on the support payment.<\/p>\n

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