The great Australian dream of home ownership seems like a fantasy for growing numbers of Australians who believe they will always rent, according to a new study from financial comparison website Finder. More than a third of the 2000 Australians surveyed said they did not think they would ever own their own home. “As a culture, many of us talk about the great Australian dream. We want that white picket fence with the big backyard, but we’re fast realising that it’s becoming out of reach for almost one in four Aussies,” Bessie Hassan, a financial expert at Finder, told The Daily Telegraph.
While many of us still long for a place of our own, Finder also found one in 10 Australians do not want to own property. “That shows a social shift,” Ms. Hassan confirmed. “It’s now becoming a lot more acceptable to be a long-term renter.” While the number of long-term renters is growing, many tenants are looking forward to a future in the property market. Approximately 29 percent of tenants believe they’ll buy their first home in the next one to five years, while 19 percent say it’ll take at least a decade for them to be financially fit.
Renting Baby Boomers are the least optimistic about their property potential, with 49 percent believing that if they don’t have a home yet, they probably never will. Approximately 61 percent of Gen Xers and 87 percent of Gen Y felt they would have a place to call their own eventually. The new research comes at a time when more Australians are renting than ever before. There are 6.3 million people renting in Australia, making up 32 percent of the population. That’s a substantial increase from the 1997-1998 financial year, when just 28 percent of Australians rented. Ms Hassan has urged Australian renters not to give up on their dreams of owning property. However, she said many renters may need to reevaluate their property plans to get into the market. “The size and shape of that dream just probably needs to change in line with expectations,” she said. “OK, so you might not get that freestanding house on a big block, you might need to settle for an apartment. It depends on what your priority is and how important it is to you to get on the ladder. It’s about fitting that dream into the reality of the market.” While increasing numbers of renters are happy with their situation, nine out of 10 still dream of owning their own homes.
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