Assumed first homebuyer profile not right

Recent reports have suggested that first homebuyers would be put off buying a property due to rising interest rates but Grow Consulting Group doesn't believe that's the case.

The company's managing director Ayda Shabanzadeh believes a fear of increasing interest rates has little impact on whether first homebuyers will choose to enter the property market.

"It's more a case of overall affordability, personal, employment or family circumstances that's restricting them," she says.

Shabanzadeh says the widely assumed profile of first homebuyers is misleading.

While it's sometimes suggested that it's young single people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, she says the demographic of first homebuyers is actually a couple with or without dependent children in their early 30s.

While she acknowledges single people in their 20s are certainly entering the property market for the first time, she says many more are in their 30s, 40s and older.

Shabanzadeh points out that instead of buying their first home, people keen on entering the market could buy an investment property instead and continue renting themselves; that might be more affordable and would enable them to maintain their lifestyle.

While it's not possible to get the First Home Owners Grant to buy an investment property, in that case the owner could have most of their mortgage repayments covered by the tenant.

"Provided they do not live in this property, they can still receive the grant when they purchase a property they do intend to live in," she says.

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