Wini Parker was determined to find a way in to the property market despite soaring house prices, interest rates, and living costs.
The young public servant recently bought her first home in Bald Hills with her mother, Eileen, after years of saving and months of struggling to compete in Brisbane’s heated housing market.
Ms Parker said owning a home was about far more than just financial security for her.
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Winifred Parker has just bought her first home with her mother, Eileen. Picture: John Gass.
“As a second-generation Australian with a single mother, it’s important to me to establish myself,” she said.
“It’s really about creating assets for myself, creating a future for my potential family, and taking care of my mother.”
Ms Parker spent about two-and-a-half years saving for a deposit and had built up close to $100,000 before her mother stepped in to help boost her borrowing power following her divorce and the sale of her home.
“With crazy house prices, realistically, for what I really wanted — a home in the Brisbane City Council area — my borrowing power wasn’t at that peak,” Ms Parker said.
“I had to really look for a few months.”
The Bald Hills house Winifred Parker has bought with her mother.
She said competition intensified when the federal government’s first home buyer guarantee scheme came into effect, making it even harder to secure a property.
Because her mother had previously owned a home, the pair were ineligible for the five per cent deposit scheme themselves.
Like many younger buyers, Ms Parker said she was forced to compromise — choosing between an apartment or townhouse closer to Brisbane, or a standalone house further from the city in Moreton Bay.
The pair ultimately secured a three-bedroom renovator in Bald Hills, with Ms Parker taking a 70 per cent share and her mother 30 per cent.
The Bald Hills house Winifred Parker has bought with her mother.
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Their mortgage will be $2100 a fortnight, which is close to what she was already putting in her savings for a deposit — with rent on top of that.
Mother and daughter plan to live there together in what Ms Parker hopes will eventually become a multigenerational family home.
“I am getting older, but we (lived together) during Covid,” she said. “It’s actualy really humbling and beautiful.”
It comes as new data from Loan Market Australia has found nearly 70 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds believe owning property is critical to financial success, despite higher interest rates and worsening affordability.
Loan Market Wavell Heights broker Cara Haynes.
Loan Market Wavell Heights broker Cara Haynes said she had more clients pooling money with their families to get into the market in the past two years than ever before.
“The reality is the entry-level home price is growing faster than (clients) can save,” Mrs Haynes said.
She said Generation Y and Z were often “underestimated”, but were actually very financially savvy.
“Some of them are phenomenal at saving,” she said. “They’ll say; ‘Well, if I’m outpriced for a one bedder in a suburb I want to live in, I’m not giving up.”
“It’s ingrained in them from their parents (to want to own a home). Some clients I speak to talk about investing in shares with the money they have, however, most people have that deep belief that property is where their wealth will grow.”
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