<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/05/share-with-parents-or-rent-forever-i-have-put-life-on-hold-while-trying-to-buy-a-house>
"When Phil moved in with his grandfather and parents in 2018, he was a rarity
in the neighbourhood. An adult with a full-time job, he was one of just two
children on the Logan, Queensland block to have returned home. Six years on and
now 30, he guesses he’s one of about 10 adult children back living with their
parents.
“It’s not a big house,” he says of four adults, plus a cat and a dog, sharing.
“Because my grandpa has a schedule – and God help me if anyone interferes with
that schedule – we just work around him.” They split bills and groceries and,
if money is tight – as it was when he needed four new car tyres – his parents
help.
He puts away a minimum of $250 a week that would otherwise go towards a room in
a shared house and aims to buy a unit with his father, who is in his 60s – a
mutually beneficial plan that extends both the amount they can borrow and the
mortgage term. But, those savings have come at a cost: Phil says his
independence has taken a step backwards, as any kind of romantic relationship
is “near impossible”.
It’s this, he says, or “rent for the rest of your life”.
A potent cocktail of skewed taxation, low housing supply, high interest rates,
cost-of-living strains and a once-in-a-century pandemic have foisted a housing
crisis on to many Australians – and nowhere is it felt more than in low-income
households. Via survey responses from more than 160 readers,
Guardian
Australia has been able to piece together a picture of insecurity, stress,
frustration and fear as house prices have soared and rental costs have kept
pace.
Many of the replies come from nurses, teachers, single parents and people
living on disability and aged pensions: they can vouch for new CoreLogic
figures that show even at the low end of rent values, low-income households
struggle, requiring more than half their income to pay rent. Multiple readers
say 60% to 75% of their income goes to their rent or mortgage.
Those earning well also tell us they are not immune. According to the same
data, a median-income household would now hypothetically channel 50.6% of its
income to service a new mortgage on a median-value dwelling. The rule-of-thumb
determining rental or mortgage stress sits at 30% of household income."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
