A 13-year-old Australian boy has created a petition calling for housing reform after being “shocked” that it would be near impossible for him to buy a house once he hits adulthood.
Sebastian Muñoz-Najar is a Year 7 student living in Adelaide. He’s in the media club at his school, does parkour, loves maths and science – but a worry for his future compelled him to start an entirely different project.
“I was concerned about the current conversation about housing unaffordability for 20-30 year-olds which led me to question how affordable it would be for my generation once we got out of university,” he said.
Sebastian sat down and did the maths on how much a house would cost by the time he completed university.
He discovered if the average house in Adelaide continued on the same trajectory, he would be looking at a $1.6 million home once he graduated, while the average graduate salary was only $73,000. By the time he’s 40, house prices would be at $5.5 million.
Sebastian Muñoz-Najar is only 13, but he's already worried about the future of housing. He's started a website and petition to encourage change. Picture: Supplied
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“I felt shocked and disappointed,” he said.
“Based on the math, I don’t think I’ll be able to (buy a house) unless very rapid action is taken to solve this issue.”
While housing prices have been growing at 6.8 per cent, he discovered wages only grew 3 per cent, which led him to start his website ‘right to housing’ and also start a petition calling for the Australian government to take action.
“I think (the government) have failed to create a system where housing is treated as housing and they’ve created a system where housing is treated as an investment in something to be used to increase wealth,” Sebastian said.
The teen told his parents, Rachel Leverton and Ed Muñoz-Najar, over breakfast one day about his concerns.
“We both said ‘well you don’t have to take it sitting down, you have the web, you have tools to do something about it’,” Mr Muñoz-Najar said.
Sebastian created a website that shows his workings and highlights his concerns.
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“We encouraged this because he should be thinking about his homework or his friends, he should not be worried about housing, it’s unnatural for a 13-year-old,” Mr Munoz-Najar said.
Ms Leverton highlighted the stark difference between when she was able to buy her first property.
“I was in my early 30s, and it was an expectation for our generation that you would buy a property and would start a family,” Ms Leverton said.
“I worry about the impact that not having property will influence other things. If you don’t have a stable house, you might be less likely to have a family … there are broader societal impacts than simply property ownership.”
Sebastian pictured with his Dad, Edgardo Munoz-Najar. Picture: Eleni Tzanos
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Ahead of the budget, Sebastian is calling for the end to negative gearing beyond one investment property and scrapping the capital gains tax discount for investors with multiple properties. The petition has now amassed over 12,000 signatures and overwhelmingly he’s not the only teenager feeling concerned.
“I’ve heard comments from a number of my friends and they believe that they’re unlikely to ever own a home in the current state of things,” Sebastian said.
“There’s a generational despair,” Mr Muñoz-Najar said.
“The comments on the petition also show that his friends at school are worried about this, we are going to have all sorts of problems if teenagers are starting to worry about this now.”
Sebastian’s petition already has more than 12,000 signatures on change.org.
Sebastian has reached out to MPs and senators and begun to receive responses and hopes this will encourage others to sign the petition and also reach out to the government.
Senator for SA, Charlotte Walker, has requested a meeting with Sebastian.
“Our goal was to get in contact before the budget, I feel hopeful that we’ve got responses … I hope we can get somewhere where we can take it further and action will be taken.”
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