A 79-year-old baby boomer who believes young Australians are too accustomed to luxuries has urged them to give up clubbing and cut back on non-essentials if they hope to buy a home.
Canberra retiree Anne Meade offered the blunt advice ahead of an expected Melbourne Cup Day interest rate rise, which could make home ownership even more difficult for aspiring buyers.
The former Commonwealth public servant said people in her generation worked hard, saved carefully and paid off their homes without financial assistance from their parents.
‘If you couldn’t afford something, you didn’t go out and buy it while paying it off with huge interest. You waited until you had the money,’ she told The Senior.
‘You didn’t go out clubbing or do that sort of thing.’
Her remarks come as the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise the cash rate for the fifth time in 2026 on Tuesday, lifting it to 4.85 per cent — the highest level in 18 years.
The anticipated hike follows a seventh consecutive monthly decline in Australian property prices.
When Ms Meade bought her unit in 1989 on what she described as a ‘modest’ income, interest rates were approaching a record 17.5 per cent.
Retiree Anne Meade, 79, says young Australians can buy a home by being disciplined with their money
She urged young Australians to surrender luxuries such as clubbing. Pictured: Two young Australians at a music festival
The interest rate is expected to rise for the fifth time this year on Tuesday
Guided by the values taught by her parents, she stayed within her means and reduced spending on items she considered non-essential.
‘I was brought up to be careful — not frugal, but careful — with my money,’ Ms Meade said.
She acknowledged that being child-free had also eased the financial pressure.
However, prominent real estate agent Tom Panos said baby boomers who claim today’s borrowers have it easier than those who faced 17.5 per cent interest rates in the early 1990s are ignoring the realities of modern mortgage debt.
Although borrowers in the early 1990s endured extremely high interest rates, Mr Panos said mortgage repayments now take up a much larger proportion of household income. Many families are also struggling with rising costs for essential goods and services.
‘A guy said to me yesterday, “Tom, we had 17.5 per cent interest rates. What are these people going on about?”‘ he recounted.
‘I was there, I was in that market and I remember exactly what it felt like.
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‘I remember starting out in real estate, seeing forced sales and mortgagee sales, taking phone calls, watching families come under pressure and businesses shut down. It was brutal.
‘But I can tell you what I am seeing families carry today, and I can tell you it is harder than many people realise.
While borrowers in the early 1990s faced sky-high interest rates, Tom Panos (pictured) said mortgage debt now consumes a far greater share of household income
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‘4.6 per cent on a giant mortgage is more painful.’
Panos said the pain felt by millions of Australians came not from the interest rate itself, but from the share of household income being swallowed by mortgage repayments.
He said homes in the early 1990s were far cheaper relative to incomes, meaning households carried significantly less debt despite much higher interest rates.
For example, in 1990, Sydney’s median house price was about $187,000. A buyer with a 20 per cent deposit would have needed a mortgage of about $150,000. Even with interest rates around 17 per cent, the interest bill was roughly $25,000 a year.
Today, Sydney’s median house price is about $1.7million. An 80 per cent mortgage would be around $1.36million. At a mortgage rate of about 6.4 per cent, the interest bill alone would be around $87,000 a year – showing how today’s much bigger mortgages can hurt even when rates are far lower.
‘The debt loads were lower. The average family home was not carrying a mortgage that is eight or nine times their household income,’ he said.
Australians are drowning in debt, with households owing the equivalent of 178 per cent of their annual disposable income in June 2026, among the highest levels since records began in 1977.
Panos said today’s borrowers were also being squeezed by rising prices for almost everything, from petrol, groceries and electricity to school fees.
‘There’s no breathing room and unlike the late 80s and 90s, which was a sharp, brutal period, households today have been carrying this pressure for a few years,’ he said.
‘Yesterday was another turn of the screws. The RBA says it’s fighting inflation, fair enough, inflation hurts everyone. But the bill is landing on mortgage holders, small business owners and young people.
‘The people with cash get higher interest, the people with debt, they’re getting smashed.
‘This is not a competition about who had it tougher, it’s about recognising the reality of today. The mortgage is so much bigger, and that’s why the pain is so much deeper.’