Gen Z thinking about home ownership

A new report has revealed exactly how the different generations view financial advice and saving for home loans. The cross-generational research by ING looked closely at how each age group planned for the future and what the most important financial considerations were.

The research showed that Gen Y (24 to 28 y/o) and Gen Z (16 to 23 y/o) ranked home ownership as one of the most important longer-term goals.

'Saving for a home' was in their top five concerns, as well as paying for a mortgage, whereas baby boomers (54 to 64 y/o) had neither of these as concerns.

According to the data, home ownership was more of a priority for the future for the youngest generation than saving for a car, affording children or saving for university/education fees.

In fact, nearly 50 per cent of Gen Z's said they were most worried about saving for a home at this moment in time.

The research also looked at how the generations would rather receive advice or help with financial decisions.

At least 60 per cent of Australians across all generations preferred face-to-face advice, however younger generations were more open to receiving digital advice. The younger two generations were also happier to pay for advice.

While the younger generation were worried about buying a house, the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that while owner occupier loans were up from the previous year, investor loans had dropped.

Really driving home how the investment market has dropped are the CoreLogic and ABS figures that show the proportion of investors in all new finance commitments.

In March 2015 investors reached a record high of 55 per cent of overall mortgage demand. As of July 2018 this figure had dropped to 41per cent.

Not everywhere in Australia has seen a drop in investors. Every state and territory across Australia apart from Tasmania saw a decline. Between July 2017 and July 2018 Tasmania saw an increase of 16.3 per cent.