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Despite the current tales of woe for first home buyers, new research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown their plight has changed little in 10 years.
The ABS’s Housing Finance data compiled by financial comparison site finder.com.au showed that only 11.8 per cent of buyers who took out a mortgage in August this year were FHBs.
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For the 12 months to August 2014 there were 77,881 FHB loans financed in Australia. At the same time a decade ago – when the market was arguably as hot – the number of FHBs in the 12 months to August 2004 was 87,577.
Admittedly that represents a drop of 11 per cent over the 10 years; however, a number of other factors also need to be considered. They include the cessation of the federal government’s FHB grant and the average Australian home increasing in value by 72 per cent to $559,376.
“In 2004, the First Home Owner Grant was uncapped so all Australian first home buyers were eligible for the $7,000. Compared to today, the government has tightened its incentives, with limitations to new homes and caps, which vary cross each state,” a spokesperson for finder.com.au said.
“Even with lower numbers of first home buyers, there are many Australians on the hunt for their first home this mortgage season,” the spokesperson said.
However, according to RP Data’s senior research analyst Cameron Kusher, figures around FHBs are often misleading as they only capture owner-occupiers and not first-time buyers who invest in one area and rent in another.
“Yes, if you look at the data it shows FHBs at around 12 per cent,” Mr Kusher says. “What it doesn’t show is how many of these are buying their first property as an investment.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of FHBs were doing this, using this as a foot into the market. There are no hard and fast stats on this, but, yes, I would suggest there’s probably a fair bit of this happening.”
Mr Kusher agrees we could be witnessing a new generation content on renting for their rest of their lives.
“In the very expensive markets – Sydney particularly, and to a lesser extent Melbourne – you are seeing more people who seem prepared to rent for the rest of their lives. That’s a very European thing to do.
“I think people are becoming more comfortable with not owning their own home or certainly buying a home much later in life,” he concluded.
[Related: Aggregator calls for housing market reform]
