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First-time real estate purchasers in Australia are increasingly entering the property market as investors rather than as owner occupiers, according to a leading online property agency.
iBuyNew CEO Mark Mendel said the company’s own data indicates the number of first-time buyer investors has taken off over the past two years.
Mr Mendel said that since 2014, the number of first home owners who are buying through iBuyNew to invest had increased by 188 per cent.
Despite record-low interest rates, the first-time buyer owner-occupier sector has collapsed, and many first home buyers are now purchasing property as investors.
“Even though property in most cities is very affordable, with interest rates set to stay at historical lows, young Australians have been put off entering the market and they prefer to rent,” he added.
“The reality is that the great Australian dream of owning your own home is fading and the goal of being a home owner is diminishing,” Mr Mendel said.
Further impediments for first home buyers, he said, are out of date or ineffective first home buyer schemes and debilitating stamp duty costs.
iBuyNew’s findings follow a warning by outgoing Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens that the entry hurdles for first home buyers may be deteriorating.
Earlier, Mr Stevens said “almost the only way” first home buyers can enter the property market in real estate hot spots such as Sydney is through parental assistance.
[Related: Boost in new home lending]
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