Aussies think home ownership is out of reach
The vast majority of Australians worry future generations will never be able to afford a home, a new survey has found.
The vast majority of Australians worry future generations will never be able to afford a home, a new survey has found.A survey by Australian National University (ANU) found 87% of respondents were either very concerned or somewhat concerned that future generations would never be able to afford a house. This is despite 75% of respondents indicating that homeownership is an essential part of the Australian way of life.
“Young Australians are particularly pessimistic and have little faith that they will be able to buy a home and replicate the levels of homeownership of previous generations,” ANU researcher Dr. Jill Sheppard said.
Homeowners also indicated that mortgage payments were becoming difficult. Twenty-three per cent of mortgage holders said that they would have either quite a bit or a lot of difficulty if interest rates were to increase by 2%. One in five said they were struggling to keep up with mortgage and rental payments, with 18% saying it was a constant struggle and 2% saying they had already fallen behind.
Ahead of this week’s budget, which is set to contain sweeping measures on housing affordability, the survey also found 51.7% of respondents supported the removal of tax incentives such as negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. Treasurer Scott Morrison has previously ruled out these measures.
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