Home ownership listed as a top goal: survey

According to the fourth annual Consumer Pulse report from Canstar – which is based on an online survey of more than 2,000 Australian adults – the top three savings goals for the 79 per cent of Australians who manage to save money each month includes buying a house (10 per cent), retirement (12 per cent) and money for living costs (16 per cent).

The survey found that 16 per cent of Millennials listed buying a house as one of their savings goals, down from 18 per cent last year, while 9 per cent of Gen X listed this as one of their goals.

Buying a house was not one of the top three goals for the Gen X cohort in 2019.

When it comes to property market confidence, 64 per cent of respondents said they expect property prices to hold steady or rise in the near future, while 17 per cent expect prices to either ease or crash at some point.

Speaking about property price trends, Canstar group executive, financial services, Steve Mickenbecker said: “With so many people predicting property prices will continue to rise and one of the biggest financial concerns being the cost of rent, it’s little surprise that Australia agrees the appropriate age for adult children to remain living at home is age 33.”

Almost a fifth, or 19 per cent, of respondents said they are unsure of what will happen to property prices in their state over the next two years.

The Consumer Pulse report also focused on first home buyers (FHB) and revealed that 25 per cent of respondents feel that parents have an obligation to help their children buy their first home.

Commenting on the FHB cohort and the “bank of mum and dad” lending a hand for their children to buy their first home, Mr Mickenbecker said that while the "bank of mum and dad" will continue to help FHBs in the year ahead, it may fall short of what their children expect.

“One-third of Millennials believe parents have an obligation to help them buy their first home," he said.

“This compares to only 14 per cent of Baby Boomers and shows that first-time buyers may be disappointed by the lack of support they receive from their parents when buying into the great Aussie dream of home ownership.”

The survey also found that despite having a sizeable amount of equity in their homes, owner-occupiers are repaying their loans at an average home loan interest rate of 3.65 per cent.

The report stated that while this is down from 3.88 per cent in 2019, it still highlights the need for borrowers to search for better deals, with Canstar listing 85 owner-occupied home loans with interest rates below 2 per cent.

In 2020, 14 per cent of mortgage-holders have switched home loan lenders in 2020 in order to obtain a lower home loan interest rate, with a further 17 per cent intending to switch.

At the same time, 32 per cent have successfully negotiated a lower home loan rate with their current lender this year.

The report studied home owners’ average estimated loan-to-value ratio (LVR) and found that South Australian home owners have the most equity in their homes with an estimated LVR of 24 per cent, while Queensland has an average estimated LVR of 27 per cent, followed by NSW at 33 per cent, Victorians at 35 per cent and Western Australia at 40 per cent.

[Related: Home ownership intentions double among FHBs]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.