Last week Malcolm Gunning, principal of Gunning Commercial, caused an uproar in the media, include on this website, when he called out young Sydney-siders for complaining they couldn't afford to buy property. Gunning said that he believed they weren't prepared to make sacrifices to buy their first home.

Gunning said that young people in Sydney, where the problem seems to be most evident, "aren’t prepared to invest in a stepping stone property, in a less desirable location," or to "forgo their material possessions".

A recent survey by ME Bank seems to bear out this notion, showing that young Australians are more interested in spending their money on travel than owning their own home. 

The survey found that 76% of Gen Ys would delay ‘settling down’ to travel overseas. Of those who had travelled overseas in the past three years, the survey found that 62% believed travel is a ‘must-do, rather than a nice-to-do experience’. And 79% agreed ‘they’ve travelled more than their parents did.’

Daniel and Susan, both 29, told ME Bank they sold their first home in order to be able to travel. “We both turn 30 this year, have a three-year old daughter (who loves travelling as much as we do), and are happily renting with no plans to settle down anytime soon,” they said.

Monica, a 25-year-old, told ME Bank, “Settling down and buying a house has been put on the backburner” to make way for her travel plans. “I go abroad at least five times a year and would like to continue this lifestyle for as long as I can!” she said.

Gunning said that interest rate burdens were significantly higher when he first bought property in the 1970s, with rates around 18% compared with the current historic lows.

But others are claiming that low wages growth and rapidly rising property prices are genuine obstacles to young Sydney residents buying property.

A new report by social researchers McCrindle reveals that income growth for Generation Y is lower than for over-65s because wages are growing more slowly than retirees’ investment returns.

Mark McCrindle told The Daily Telegraph, “We have seen a generation that has been shut out of property ownership and have lost the capacity to get property, which was the traditional Aussie dream.”

And the recent report on the University of Melbourne's HILDA survey made gloomy predictions for young Australians' home ownership dreams, forecasting that by next year less than half of Australians will own their own home. The HILDA report shows that the cheapest homes in the market grew 108% in value between 2001 and 2014, while the most expensive homes grew only 47%.

The growing discrepancy between wages and house prices also mean that home owners are required to take out increasingly large mortgages.

The Foundation for Young Australians’ chief executive Jan Owen told The New Daily, “Young people now need to take on a home loan that is 134% of their disposable income rather than the 32% in 1988 to get into the housing market.”

Read more:

Younger generations doing it tougher

Generation selfish cuts itself out of home ownership

Housing affordability brightens

Decline in home ownership a wake-up call