is it really any harder to buy/pay off a house these days as compared to 30 years ago? theoretically, with the inflation of house prices, wages have increased as well, so what's the story? anybody of the required vintage to answer this one?
I'm 34 My wife is getting bigger and harder to look at by the day and she refuses to have kids, I work in a vineyard in the bush getting not much money, can't buy a house or land and can't even smoke a tire without getting in trouble by a little kid *pats VP* it's get me through life
Had this discussion with my parents not that long ago. The problem is that property prices have far outstripped the inflationary growth in wages. My parents bought their house for $25,000 in the mid-70's for a typical house in Melbourne's southeast - brick 3 bedroom about 8 years old. It equated to roughly 2.5 times the average annual gross wage at the time. Fast forward to today and for the same equivilent house now (brick, 4 bedroom, 8 years old) you'd struggle to find a house for under $250,000 in Melbourne - that equates to over 6 times the average annual gross wage now. So in relative terms house prices have doubled in the last 30 years, and that's just in Melbourne. The situation is far worse in Sydney. Unfortunately if this rate of growth continues, in 30 years time only the very rich will be able to afford to buy a house.
22 Here. Positives, I'm young, I'm healthy, I've landed a job that’s more than likely going to merge into a career, 4 years work + a piece of paper and a trade. I still have responsibility, but not TOO much responsibility, I can go out on the weekends and act like an ass and still not have any less thought about me. I'm starting to think about settling down with partners, I'm starting to look at buying house/s. Negatives, I'm young. I'm still grouped in the under 25's for driving, I'm still classed as an immature idiot by most seniors. As everyones said, the price of real estate these days is ridiculous. Still pretty cheap around here compared to what most of you southerners are paying, around 250 thousand will get something alright up here. That’s why all you mongrels are migrating I guess. Even the coastal stuff that we laugh at for less then 1mill all you southerners would think is an alright price. But for little old me, that’s taken a 25 thousand a year pay sacrifice just so I can have the better job with more prospects.. It's out of reach for a few years. All in all, I think I'm at a good age.
Well I'll be 22 in 3 months... Upsides? I'm engaged to the best young lady in the world, I own a car, a very expensive drumkit, have a work car, a work phone, job security, and a decent income (approx. $700/week). I live at home where I pay only a small fee in board (relative to paying rent anyway) and my parents allow me to live my life (ie. they don't try to control my life). Downsides? I can't afford to get married until mid next year, and that's creating tension. I have to commute in Sydney traffic every weekday which stresses me out and makes me aggressive. I'm currently paying off $7000 in debt which I want to have paid off by October - taking a huge chunk out of my income. After all my other expenses and money I put aside for savings, I'm generally left with only $20-$30 a fortnight in spare cash. I can't afford to get a mortgage yet, and I refuse to start renting somewhere. My job in IT (ie. sitting on arse 8 hours a day) combined with my metabolism slowing down has caused me to gain weight, which I am working to get rid of . But all in all, I'm a pretty happy chappy! I don't mind not having much spare cash, it stops me wasting it on useless junk and junk food. I hardly touch alcohol at all so I don't miss it since I can't afford it, and I simply enjoy my life! It's good fun. Although I suppose being an optimist and a Christian contributes to that .
Also back in the seventies, peoples average wages were about $10, $150 a week too, a new HQ Holden was worth about $1300, $1500, and houses were worth around $14,000. So really nothing has changed much except yes the growth in cars and houses way out of porportion to the wage increases. Like petrol increases, Milk, coke, eggs, paddle pops have all increased over the years too. I could remeber buying a Billabong for 45cents, what are they worth now? I could remeber buying a 2 litre of milk for $1.80 what is a 2 litre bottle of milk worth now?
I would've loved to have lived in the 70's/80's.. Dad told me about those days.. Where company cars were VL Turbo's (2 of them) and everyone wanted to get it. They used to drive upto Sydney and Canberra at an average (or minimum) speed of 160km/h.. Apparently it was fun driving up those speeds in the earlier VN 8's.. Try drive that fast now.. Consistently, forget it.. Hit the piss and drive home. As long as you could drive straight, no one really cared.. Not no more.. Lillee and Thommo.. Hell cricket from that generation kills cricket in this generation.. Moustaches.. Someone get me a time machine..
I've seen that poster with the Aussie cricket team photos dating to like 1860. They had those huuuuuuuuge moustaches right up until only very recently. Like, 99% of the blokes had them.
People complain about wages, price of houses etc. There is a simple fix, get an education, get a decent job. On 60k a year i am paying for 3 houses, well actually my tenants are pretty much paying for them(suckers). To really own a house these days you need more than the 1. I guess it also helps have are good at not spending money also, something which alot of people have trouble doing, hence my KN laser, never buy a car on finance, too much of a drain.
How things have changed, Milk delivered to the door - I know its still done but if it was anything like the newspapers the glass bottles would be smashing into the side of the car on the driveway just like the newspapers. Even in the electrical industry, hearing stories about how things weren't measured that well, drive along in the car throwing the stakes out the window, pole here, pole here, then you drive back and hammer them in. Now we have to get the compass and the measurements out, take it back home and do span calcs and see if the heights will meet clearance and then go back and go through nature reserves and the list goes on. People driving out to the site drinking so much booze, coming back and seeing the cop, having a drink with him and chatting away. Those were the days I think.
Memories Ah, let's see. Fuel at 29.9 cents a gallon, without any discounting. Milk at 10 cents a litre. Large watermelons at 40 cents each. And all while I was income rich at university with $25 per fortnight to splurge. Oh, and my membership at NSW Golf Club was $21 the first year, but the joining fee was $22 on top of that. Now I'm asset rich and income poor. But little has changed. I still cannot afford the lifestyle that I would like to have. Maybe I could blame the seven children for that, but I have enjoyed them too much to be able to justify that sentiment.
Of course they dont, alot of luxuries are earnt, not handed to someone on a platter. I had one luxury when i was growing up, that was a good income until i joined the army. I worked for my parents, earning my $200 a week from age 15 for working my butt off on the farm, while doing schooling and doing well in HSC(at the time). All the money i saved, i gave up hanging out with mates blowing money, instead i had fun racing motocross(which my parents rewarded me with for doing well at school), i never spent a dime, i joined the army for 5 years, which i once again saved as much as possible without splurging, buying k-mart clothes etc. Got injured, invested my mil comp and wont have access to all of it until im 30(2 years from now). I worked my way into a company where i now have a great wage. I guess my point is, you can achieve anything with a little discipline. I have friends now who have high finance with a car, cant afford anything etc, simply because they never tried to save. Money and discipline work very well together.
Hey minux, how old where u when u bought your first house? Im 26, my other half is 21. We're both debt free. Dont owe a thing to any1. Pulling in 100k a year between us. Upsides: freedom, do what u want when u want. Downsides: bills, cleaning the house etc. . . And I dont want kids. . . . . . . . . . . . yet (maybe)
Well i'm early forties and the down sides are that the women I used to look at and be able to take out now look at me as if i'm old enough to be there father :rofl: as most of the ones that go out clubbing these days are mid to early twenties or earlier so i'd much rather be in my twenties again but know what I know now!!! :yeah: (Dreamin) But then again I wouldnt have my great son so you can only look forward never back and make the most of all opportunities that come your way. :hit:
moaning about how cheap things were in the past is pointless, remember everyone earnt a hell of a lot less than now. the average wage these days is around $45,000 - $50,000, imagine earning that in the 1970's? again, its all relative. just because you earn a lot, doesn't mean your life gets any easier. you get a pay rise, so you can afford a better car, that costs more to buy and maintain, you buy a bigger house that costs more to maintain, you start going out to dinner more often, there goes more cash. all those little things add up. unless you are a true tight arse and live like you earn $20k when you get $100k+, it doesn't really matter how much you earn i remember when i earned $60 a week and i never had enough money for anything i wanted. now i earn 5 times that (still at uni) and i can still not afford anything i want.
Bought my first place after i returned from east timor, almost bought it outright when i was 22. Second place 3 years ago to live in while we built new. Only been in our new place for 12 months. Between myself and my partner we are earning 120k a year. We are just stringent with what we buy and how we buy it. Our only aim now is to save for when we have children, and to comfortably pay for their private education and hopefully university education abroad. Its a long time from now, but its better to have now then to try and do it in the future.
