Gordon wrote on Apr 15th, 2025 at 1:12pm:| Parents gifting their kids a house deposit is the worst thing they can do, unless they are morons or disabled. |
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Do people genuinely understand what it’s like out there for young people right now?
Let’s talk about a hypothetical couple trying to buy in the outer suburbs of Sydney. Already, that scenario is optimistic. If you’re single, forget it, unless you’re living with your parents into your 30s, this isn’t even on the table. But let’s entertain the couple scenario, both working full-time and renting while trying to scrape together a deposit for a modest unit.
The median unit price in Sydney sits around $830,000 based on 2024-25 figures, but for the sake of clean maths, let’s round down to $800,000.
To get a foot in the door:
20% deposit: $160,000
Stamp duty: ~$30,000 (a bit less if you qualify for first-home buyer concessions)
Legal, inspections, and misc.: ~$10,000
So you're looking at a $200,000 upfront target, just to have the bank acknowledge your existence.
Now take the average full-time wage:
Around $101,400 per person before tax
Combined: $202,800 before tax, which after tax and Medicare nets you about $150,000-160,000
Then it becomes a question of time:
5 years: $40,000 per year or $20,000 each
7 years: ~$28,500 per year or ~$14,250 each
That’s 18-25% of their entire take-home pay, committed to savings alone.
Now layer in the rent. Average rent is around $775 per week:
$775 × 52 = $40,300 per year just to have a roof over your head while you save
So let’s say they’re taking home $160k, rent eats $40k, savings need another $40k (if you’re aiming for 5 years). That leaves them with $80,000 per year, or $1,536 per week, for everything else.
Sounds fine on paper? Not when you break it down:
Groceries: $250-$300
Utilities: $100-$130
Internet & Phone: $40-$55
Transport: $150-$200
Health & medical: $80-$120
Insurance: $50-$100
Entertainment & dining: $100-$150
Miscellaneous: $100-$150
Weekly total: $870-$1,205
Their budget it $1,536 per week.
This is what “making it work” looks like, no margin for error. It assumes you never get sick, never need to replace a car, never get laid off. No inflation. No disasters. No family. No joy.
You’re not living, you’re existing. A glorified spreadsheet cell, working to feed the mortgage-industrial complex.
It wasn’t like this for us. I bought my first place solo, living in a share house, working part-time while studying. I had no real life, sure, but it was doable. The property I bought? $150,000. Today, according to Domain, it’s estimated at $1.2 million.
This isn't some abstract shift, it's a 25-year transformation of the economy into something far more hostile to young people trying to establish a foundation. And no, telling them to “just save” is not helpful, it’s patronising.
If you're in a position to help your kids break out of the rental trap and into ownership and you choose not to, that’s not just a personal decision, it’s a moral one. It shows exactly what kind of parent, and citizen, you are.
The worst thing isn’t failing to help. It’s climbing the housing ladder yourself, then pulling it up behind you while telling the next generation they should have just climbed faster. That’s Peter Dutton’s approach. Just save harder, cut back on Netflix, skip smashed avo, as if that’s the problem.
Back then, even when we were saving, we still got to live. We still had holidays, dinners out, a semblance of balance. Young people today aren’t even being offered that. They’re being asked to sacrifice everything just to maybe afford a 2-bedroom unit 90 minutes from work.
The game has changed, and pretending it hasn’t is just cruelty disguised as wisdom.
