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Young Australians are asking relatives for financial assistance more often to help get onto the property ladder and tackle “front of mind” cost-of-living pressures.
New data from economists at UBS found 20 per cent of Australians gave money to a family member over the last 12 months, the highest number since the research survey began six years ago.
Of those tapping the bank of mum and dad for cash, just over half received $5,000 for general expenses, while one in four asked for as much as $200,000 to buy property.
Intergenerational wealth
UBS economist Stephen Wu said family help has been pretty key for younger Australians hoping to get a leg up in the property market.
“Australia is a very wealthy country by some metrics, amongst the wealthiest in the world and we know that a lot of that wealth is tied up in housing,” he told SBS World News.
“A lot of these older Australians, so parents and grandparents are actually moving some of this wealth and providing it to their family and members, their children and their grandchildren, such that they are able to meet cost of living pressures and also to get a foot in the housing market.”
Wu explained that this intergenerational wealth transfer is becoming more common.
In the meantime, the cost of living has become less of a concern for Australians.
“We know that income growth has been quite strong. We know that inflation is easing and it’s within the RBA’s inflation target band,” Wu said.
“That means that real wages are growing again. So I think there is quite a good sign that the worst is behind us and we’re going to see for those younger Australians, this boost to real incomes helping to alleviate cost of living pressures.”
However, with property prices predicted to rise, there could be economic angst for some.
“Obviously, there is a lot of wealth in the country and those who are lucky enough to actually get that [family] support are going to be quite grateful. But not everyone is going to be quite so lucky,” Wu said.
First home buyer scheme
The scheme will also remove income and place limits and raise property price caps across most regions.
But as more first-home buyers take advantage of the boosted scheme, demand will also rise, pushing about 100 suburbs outside the scheme’s caps by the end of the year.
Price caps in Sydney will lift from $900,000 to $1.5 million, Melbourne from $800,000 to $950,000 and Brisbane from $700,000 to $1 million.
Adelaide, Perth and Hobart’s caps will increase from $600,000 to $900,000, $850,000 and $700,000, respectively.
Darwin’s cap will remain unchanged at $600,000, while the ACT will have its cap increased from $750,000 to $1 million.
