A Sydney man has laid bare just how out of reach homeownership is for many young Australians right now. Skyrocketing property prices, coupled with the high cost of living and lagging wages, are making it more difficult for young people to buy their first homes.

The 29-year-old Sydney man was stopped in the street by Coposit, an app that helps people buy their first homes. He was asked about his plans to buy property in the future and shared that it wasn’t something he could even entertain right now.

“I just can’t dream of it,” he said. “Expenses are too high. I can’t even afford to rent.”

RELATED

• New Australian property data reveals how much you need to earn to buy a home compared to 1975

• ATO warning for 2.6 million small business owners as areas of concern revealed: 'Will face consequences'

• $3 million superannuation tax change sparks property warning as 'panic’ selling begins

The man shared he had between $10,000 to $15,000 in savings, but said this was for an emergency.

“If you are asking about buying a new house, that is just a dream. I don’t know how, maybe if I am lucky enough, I can win the lottery or something like that,” he said.

The man said he thought other people his age were in the same position as him.

“I’m watching everyone struggling nowadays. Only the people who are already rich or already have properties, those ones can [buy],” he said.

Owning a home is getting harder

Owning a home in Sydney is now three times harder than it was 50 years ago, a new report by the Australian Property Institute found.

Sydney homebuyers now need 13 times the average annual income to purchase a home. That’s up from 4.2 times back in 1975.

In Melbourne, the ratio has more than doubled from 3.5 times to 8.4 times, while in Brisbane it has almost tripled from 2.9 times to 8.3 times.

Nationally, the income-to-house-price ratio has surged from 3.4 to 8.1.

The median value of all houses and units in greater Sydney was $1,195,000 in April, according to CoreLogic.

National values are sitting at around $825,000.

Australian home ownership rates have dropped from 71.4 per cent to 66.2 per cent in 25 years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

There has also been a significant drop in home ownership among younger Aussies.

More than half of 25 to 29-year-old households were homeowners in the 1980s, but this dropped to less than 40 per cent in the 2021 census.

Aussies say ‘Australian dream is finished’

The Coposit video has racked up tens of thousands of views online, with many people echoing the man’s view about how difficult it is to buy a home these days.