Breaking Into the Property Market

As a part of growing up, I am seeing my friends start to grow up more and more, day by day. They are taking the logical steps in their lives to make sure they can have the future lives that they’ve been dreaming off. Finishing university, having a full-time job, having a deposit for a house, these are all things on our imaginary checklist that we have stored somewhere in our memory bank.

I am living in Sunbury at the moment, which is quite a nice suburban town. With multiple shopping complexes, growing infrastructure, and housing estates popping up left and right, Sunbury is one of the top 10 fastest growing property markets in the last 10 years. The medium housing price in Sunbury as of November 2015 is $360,000.

Now, that doesn’t sound too bad at all, especially when you see these houses. They are modern, well-maintained, averaged 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom houses with ample back and front yard space. This is the perfect start for someone like me, who, in the next couple of years, would love to be able to spread his wings from the family nest and move on to the next phase of my life.

But I was to make that investment in the next 5 to 10 years. Ok, 10 years, as I’m trying to be realistic.

Sunbury’s medium house price in 2006 was $243,000, which is an absolute bargain. In the last 10 years, we have seen the real estate market have its peaks and valleys, with Sunbury staying consistently stable and growing at an average annual rate of 2.3%. Based on that continued annual growth, the annual median housing price is going to be $404,280 in the next 10 years.

That’s great for someone who is trying to get into the current market and can afford the current median house price. But, for someone like me who plans on buying in that very distant future, I suggest we start saving because at this rate, we’re going to be living in granny flats in our parents’ backyards.