‘Dopamine trap’: How daily habits cost you a house

Buyers chasing small daily rewards could be unknowingly sabotaging both their deposit and their borrowing power, in what one expert calls “the dopamine trap”. Often driven by the brain’s reward system, the feel-good spending from uber eats to weekend getaways is being put under the microscope. Data from NAB shows spending at cafes, restaurants and pubs is up 7.6 per cent year-on-year, with hospitality accounting for one in every $10 spent. Buyer’s agent and founder of Aus Property Professionals Lloyd Edge believes this points to a much bigger issue than the occasional coffee, with building a financial life around small, instant rewards at the expense of the flexibility to act on a much bigger opportunity later. “It’s not about buying one coffee or having that takeaway meal once a week, it’s about frequent spending,” Mr Edge said. “Essentially dopamine makes you feel good, so that might be regular clothes shopping, uber eats, expensive weekends and for some people it might be upgrading their car to keep up with the Joneses. “It’s not just about foregoing having a coffee or anything like that, but it’s about overall planning the bigger picture and not spending too much of those littl...