Australians under 35 are confronted with the scenario of a seemingly never-ending housing boom and near-stagnant wage growth. To thrive financially in this environment, many see property investment, rather than wage labour, as the best means to secure their future.
An ongoing study, Understanding Finance Culture in Australian Households, which is being conducted by a special research team at the University of Sydney, aims to discover the motivations behind people’s everyday interactions with financial products. It also aims to understand how property investment is impacting millennials.
Since the mid-1990s, house prices have ascended rapidly, while median wages have flat-lined. Many young adults are finding it difficult to enter Australia’s most expensive housing markets, with some staying in the rental market for longer or resorting to the bank of mum and dad to buy their first homes. Others are ‘rentvesting’ (i.e. purchasing an investment property in an affordable location and renting in an ideal location) to upgrade their living standards.
An important component of the study is in-depth, one-on-one interviews with young mortgage holders and property investors. Many of the interviewees believe that the path forged by their parents – securing a good job and attaining homeownership – would not be enough to provide a secure economic future for their own families. Instead, they are turning to property investment, and additional sources of income, to secure their financial futures.
Here are two interview excerpts from the archive:
“To be honest, I hate working, and so does my husband. We hope that in the next 5 to 10 years, neither of us will be working full-time. We don’t want to be working Monday to Friday, nine to five and being miserable, like our parents are.”
“I do feel a bit of pressure to almost get a side income…You know, do Uber driving a couple of hours a night…because $800,000 [in mortgage debt] is a lot of money! And at the rate I’m going, if my wages stay stagnant for the rest of my life, this is going to be a long, long time!”
Share your insights, and let your voice be heard!
The research team behind Understanding Finance Culture in Australian Households is conducting one-on-one 45-minute interviews with young property investors and mortgage holders.
To make it worth their while, research participants will be given a $50 voucher.
To participate, or for more information, please contact the project at:
E: finance-culture.research@sydney.edu.au
F: @understanding.finance.culture.research
Related Stories:
What Drives Australians To Invest In Property?
How Rentvesting Can Combine Financial Growth And Lifestyle
