Property tycoon, 35-year-old Tim Gurner, has solved the national housing affordability crisis in one concise segment on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes, and we all owe him a very sincere thank you.
With no less than half a billion dollars to his name, Gurner summarises his philosophy in one sentence: “When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each.”
“They want to eat out every day, they want to travel to Europe every year,” he told 60 Minutes, referring to Generation Y. “This generation is watching the Kardashians and thinking that’s normal. Thinking that owning a Bentley is normal, that owning a BMW is normal.”
Listen: The Mamamia Out Loud team take a moment to discuss the predicament of poor millennials who may never own a house in Australia. Post continues after audio.
Pause.
If my interpretation is correct, it would appear that what Gurner is saying, is that if you spend less money on small things, you will save more money for big things, later.
Holy shit. Economists, take the rest of the day off. Politicians, have a nap. Financial planners, you’ve all been made redundant.
Gurner’s got this.
The only thing missing from Gurner’s musings is, of course, anything that mildly resembles a fact. Here are some of them:
Top Comments
I can see it from both sides. Can see that houses in inner Melbourne and Sydney are ridiculously expensive....but why are they aiming there for their first house? Buy a house in the burbs or country and either live in and commute or rent it out as an investment.
The expectations of getting into the property market have changed in that people want their 'dream location' first up when perhaps there needs to be a stepping stone or two in between that.
I bought my first home at 20 (now 29) and it was in a regional town 1.5hrs from Melbourne - it was a basic house but the tenants now pay the last of the mortgage off for me and I was able to move on to other properties with the equity in my first home.
Maybe it's time for a tree change, first home buyers?
This is the whole thing. Families are being priced out of the market, even in more regional areas. Plus, people work in the city, that is where the good jobs with the good incomes are. What if they have a specific skill set that means that it is hard to find work out of the city? They might not physically have the time or money to commute. They might not have a drivers license or a car, because they gave up their wheels to help afford to live in the city. It's not a simple as just move out of the city.
The clincher in the whole segment was when Greenwood pointed out the difference in how much of a wage people put towards their mortgage in years gone by compared to now.
Back in the day people put much more of their weekly wage towards their mortgage than they do now.......probably cause they are spending it on other lifestyle choices.