Finance guru David Koch has implored young Aussies to stop blaming others for their financial issues.
Finance guru David Koch has implored young Aussies to stop blaming others for their financial issues.
In a letter for finance comparison website Compare The Market, Koch has implored young homebuyers to put their heads down and work hard to achieve their home ownership goals.
Kochie said young Australians need to “stop the blame game” in regard to the housing and has defended Baby Boomers in the process.
Former Channel 7 star Koch pointed out young homebuyers believe his generation has “put them on the chopping block” despite the “Bank of Mum and Dad” sitting sixth on the list of home lenders.
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David Koch says Baby Boomers aren’t to blame for the housing crisis. Supplied
“Not enough houses? Boomers are hoarding them. Not enough home units? Boomers throw down cash before first-time buyers can say boo!” Koch, who is Compare The Market’s Economic Director, wrote.
However Koch said he understood that young homebuyers are having a tough time at the moment given the median price of a home in Australia is currently 14 times the average annual salary. In 1990, it was five times.
“When we bought our homes, prices were more accessible, and while interest rates were sky-high, our wages were aligned with housing costs, ” Kochie wrote in the letter.
“Housing markets have inflated, wages have stagnated, and opportunities for younger generations are considerably diminished.”
He said that government policy is largely to blame for the dire housing situation.
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The cost of the average Aussie home is 14x the average salary. Picture: James MacSmith
“Governments have simply not planned for either the generational housing change or the big increase in migration to ensure enough properties have been built to meet demand.,” he wrote.
He pointed out that Australia will fall well short of its 2029 new home construction target of 1.2m million as outlined in a State of the Housing System report.
Australians need to discover “how we can work together” to make housing affordable again, Koch asserted.
“A bit of compassion and creative thinking could go a long way. Otherwise, the scapegoats and sacrificial lambs of the world will continue their bleating,” he wrote.
Koch said older Australians were within their rights to have an investment property, as real estate was a long-term wealth driver and those who did were “usually just regular mums and dads trying to grow wealth to support their families”.
Without those investors “there would be nowhere to rent”.
“And that’s not a good situation either.”
Most Boomers are not the “wealthy, elite stereotype we often see in the news”, Koch wrote.
And that many had to work out to be able to afford a home.
“It’s essential to recognise this diversity and avoid vilifying the entire generation,” he wrote.
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