Research reveals 69% of Millennial home owners took no more than 5 years to save for their home loan deposit.

Owning a home has been a distant dream for Millennials, but new research commissioned by ING suggests that buying a property could be more achievable than young Aussies think.

One in three (32%) Millennial first home buyers surveyed think it will take them 10 or more years to save for a home loan deposit, or that they won’t ever save enough money. In reality, over two-thirds (69%) of homeowners under the age of 39 said it took no more than 5 years.

The research shows current low interest rates have encouraged over a quarter (26%) of Australian Millennials to enter the housing market, with half (50%) currently saving to buy and over half (58%) of first homeowners already looking to move up the property ladder.

It would seem compromise is key to Millennial home owners getting on the property ladder, with 55% of those who have already purchased having sacrificed on their home ideals in some way. However, of those yet to buy only 38% suggested they are willing to compromise on the type of home and location to get a foot in the door.

The ING research also revealed:

• The state of play: most Millennials (40%) rent, over a third (37%) own their own home and one fifth (20%) live at home with parents.

• The Australian Dream: more than half (54%) of Millennials believe getting onto the property ladder is essential.
• The wish list has changed: first-time buyers are willing to sacrifice the “forever home,” dream location (36%) and storage space (21%), to own their first property.
• Home buying obstacles: Over a third of Millennial homeowners (35%) had trouble understanding loan applications and almost a quarter (24%) struggled to agree with a partner.

Melanie Evans, ING Head of Retail Banking said: “With all-time low mortgage rates, home buyers who can overcome the hurdle of a 20% deposit will likely find that servicing a loan is easier than ever.

“While many Millennial Aussies believe that home ownership is a far off dream, our research has found that the reality of owning a home is far closer than they think. You just might need to be willing to make some small sacrifices in the first instance to save for that deposit, then compromise on the type of home you’re willing to take on to kick off your home ownership journey.

“There’s no need to put pressure on buying that ‘dream forever home’ for your first property, as you can always upgrade later. In fact our research shows that 58% of Millennial homeowners are already on the move up the property ladder.”

For handy tools and tips, try ING’s next home guide at www.ing.com.au.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

This survey was commissioned by ING and conducted by YouGov in September 2019. The sample comprises 1,010 Australians aged 18 – 39 years.

For more information contact Deanna Rose on 0413 317 225 or deanna.rose@ing.com.au

About ING

ING is a business name of ING Bank (Australia) Limited ABN 24 000 893 292.  ING changed the way Australians bank 20 years ago by launching the country’s first high interest, fee free online savings account. Since then, we’ve brought continued value to customers with home loans, transactional banking, superannuation, credit cards, personal lending and insurance.

ING manages $42 billion in savings and $45 billion in mortgages and is Australia’s most recommended bank with the highest Net Promoter Score of any Australian bank. Source: Nielsen Consumer & Media View Jan’19-Jun ‘19 (n=11375) when compared by customers of 18 other banks operating in Australia.