00:00We're speaking with three generations of the Cornish Templeton family, baby boomers
00:07Neil and Jenny, their Gen X daughter Megan, and Gen Z grandson Daniel and his wife Emma.
00:14They all bought their first homes in Melbourne's South East, and together they tell the story
00:19of Australia's changing property market since the 1970s.
00:22Ooh, that one's mine.
00:23It hasn't changed too much, and I can still see that they've got your curtains.
00:28Is that where you broke Caleb's leg?
00:31Yep.
00:32We were looking seriously, like going every Saturday, looking at like three or four homes,
00:39and it was the only house that we walked into and like, it ticks every box.
00:44It was a beautiful house.
00:46We had a $5,000 deposit saved after about 19 months of marriage, and this home was $25,000
00:53back in the day, 50 years ago.
00:55That was then, but what do they think it's worth now?
00:58What do you reckon?
00:59I reckon a million.
01:00I think a lot more than that.
01:01You were right, Neil!
01:02I should have kept it.
01:07It took Megan and her husband six years to save their deposit, but they weren't feeling
01:11the pressure.
01:12I think similar to you, I don't remember saving earnestly.
01:15I would say 1.13.
01:18Ooh, 1.22.
01:22When Daniel and Emma snagged a townhouse in Croydon this year, they joined a growing cohort
01:27receiving help from the Bank of Mum and Dad.
01:29I don't know many people at our age that are in the process or have just bought a home
01:35without the assistance of family.
01:42A data analysis by the ABC taking into account changing house prices, incomes and interest
01:47rates shows their experience is fairly typical.
01:50Back in 1990, it took about seven years to save a deposit, based on a household putting
01:55away 20% of its income.
01:57By the time Megan bought in 2003, it was up to eight and a half years.
02:01And by the year Emma and Daniel bought, it was up to ten and a half years.
02:06According to the ABC analysis, the amount of a household's income going on mortgage
02:10repayments has also jumped.
02:13Accountant Neil estimates a quarter of his and Jenny's take-home pay went on repayments.
02:18In 2003, the average household was spending 35% of its income on mortgage repayments.
02:23And by 2024, it was 45%.
02:26I feel sorry for you.
02:27I feel very sorry for you, Jenny.
02:29And I'm very jealous of where you were at.
02:32Oh, to be a baby boomer, hey?
02:34Big difference.
02:36For now, market analysts don't expect any significant increase in housing affordability
02:40for Australia's young people.
02:42I think the best that we can hope for is a slow, steady decline in home values that doesn't
02:47put the majority of mortgaged Australians at risk of negative equity.
02:52And this is what the bank takes.
02:53Whatever.
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