00:00So we looked at the household spending 10 years ago in the last financial year.
00:06We took control of inflation, so we tried to work out removing that from the effects.
00:12So we sort of really tried to understand what are people spending their money on now compared
00:16to 10 years ago.
00:18So younger people living with parents, not moving out, is that the general trend?
00:23Yeah, well we've seen some real significant changes in that under 25 age group there are
00:28people who are staying with mum and dad for longer, not branching out into the share houses
00:33that we've seen in the past.
00:34And interestingly when we look at the 25 to 34 year age group, they're quite different
00:40to 10 years ago.
00:41So once again we've got much more people living alone, share houses are out of fashion, there's
00:45less people coupling up and less people with children.
00:48And that's sort of a result of cost living pressures changing the way we live our lives.
00:52And I was interested in the knock-on effect of that, in that more furniture is being bought.
00:58Yes, so it's kind of having those households forming a little bit later in life, it's taking
01:04longer to kind of get yourself set up, finish that education, the rent's taking up more
01:09money and making home ownership more challenging and challenging.
01:13Do young people move around more often, I guess partly because they're renting?
01:18Yeah, so the rental market's the tougher one.
01:20You often have those 12 month long leases which come up and people sort of have to move
01:24on.
01:25And also that sort of having more single households makes it more happen.
01:29If you're in a couple with children, often that sort of keeps you tied down.
01:33The childcare, the schools keep you in one place.
01:36But if you don't have those sort of leashes holding you in place, moving more often becomes
01:41easier and easier.
01:42Terry, what about the middle aged group?
01:45Where are their finances going?
01:46Yeah.
01:47And once again, housing, servicing that mortgage is taking up more and more of their income.
01:52They're cutting back on some of those funner things, you know, eating out, going to live
01:56music, gigs, cultural events, just to sort of service those bigger and bigger mortgages
02:00we've seen.
02:01So mortgages are up, but also associated costs like stamp duty have increased quite significantly
02:06over that 10 year period.
02:07And I mentioned the older generation splashing out.
02:11Is that because they may well have paid off a mortgage and are now relying on a pension,
02:17which makes them comfortable and life's good?
02:20Yeah.
02:21So they've got the lowest amount of their expenditure going towards those home loan repayments.
02:25It's sort of half what the younger groups are.
02:27So that's just reflecting those people in 55 to 64 year age group, got the mortgage under
02:32control, got the kids out the door, more disposable income and they're going out and spending more
02:36on food, buying a good bottle of wine to go with dinner.
02:40There's more money going to these recreational goods, which can often mean caravans.
02:44So they're traveling around the country.
02:45They're traveling internationally and domestically via air.
02:49So they're really enjoying themselves while they've got the disposable income and still
02:51healthy enough to get around and do things.
02:54Does the research show trends in lifestyle?
02:58I'm thinking of fitness trends or eating trends.
03:04Are they reflected?
03:06Yeah.
03:07We can definitely see across all the age groups expenditure on dining out and takeaways up
03:12and probably also up a little bit more for that younger group.
03:15And it sort of makes sense when you see there's more of these people living by themselves that
03:19they would all go out to socialize, not in their lounge rooms with their housemates.
03:24But if you're living at own, you go out to the cafes, restaurants to grab a meal.
03:28The other interesting thing is in that younger age group, especially, we've seen more spending
03:32going into that health sector.
03:33And this coincides with other data we've looked at where there's more expenditure on
03:39physiotherapists, other health professionals and mental health professionals, psychologists,
03:45counsellors.
03:46So that younger generation especially is really putting more money into their physical and
03:49mental health.
03:50Terry, I'm interested in who benefits from this research that you've done and who can
03:58use it to look at the future and plan?
04:00Yeah.
04:01And it's sort of for businesses out there trying to pitch their customers, understanding
04:06that as the next sort of wave comes into an age group, their expenditure patterns might
04:10be different.
04:11So it helps businesses understand who should they be targeting?
04:15How are the preferences changing?
04:16Are there different price points people are looking towards?
04:19It's also kind of important for governments to understand that housing affordability, housing
04:25availability is really changing our younger demographic.
04:29It's making them harder to kind of get secure housing.
04:32That creates challenges in maintaining secure employment and also it has knock-on effects
04:36into fertility.
04:38So more expensive housing, more insecure housing just makes it harder for young Australians to
04:44start having their first child or even adding to their family from there.
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