In money news that affects your hip pocket – property, bricks and power to the people!
Just as BrickX releases a new way to buy into property at Bondi, new research by financial product comparison website finder.com.au has found that it takes one third of Australians save five years for a house deposit.
The finder.com.au survey of 2,006 Australians revealed would-be home buyers from Queensland and New South Wales take nearly four years, or 47 months to save for a home deposit on average which is the highest among the states and territories.
Home buyers in Victoria come in at third place, taking an average of 45 months to save for a deposit.
It also found the majority of people take 3.7 years to save a deposit on average.
Over 11 per cent of Aussies have saved for 10 years or more to have enough funds to complete a deposit.
South Australians take the least time to save for a home deposit, with almost three quarters taking under five years.
BrickX challenges expensive property prices
Meanwhile, the new company that’s shaking things up in the residential property market BRICKX is busy promoting a new way of buying into expensive Australian property.
According to the Australian Financial Review BrickX is helping buyers get into the Bondi property market by buying a share or a brick in a dwelling for only $96.
The concept takes the idea of share market investing into the residential property market, so as a potential investor you own a share and get a share by way of slice of rent from whatever income is generated.
It comes just as an alarming new book surfaces which warns that the elderly are most at risk from the country’s housing affordability crisis.
According to a new book by Professor Alan Morris, The Australian Dream: Housing Experiences of Older Australians, one in 10 single people between 65 years and over are private renters with that proportion increasing to one in five for those aged 55 to 64 years, cites news.com.au.
What’s most disturbing is that many of these people are relying on the age pension to pay their rent – which can be extremely challenging.
More power to consumers
Consumer advocacy group CHOICE says Australians could save hundreds and potentially thousands of dollars on products ranging from health insurance and energy to credit cards and mobile phones, if recommendations by the Productivity Commission get the go ahead.
CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland says a new report by the Commission has proposed giving consumers access to their own consumption data from these companies.
“When it comes to products like health insurance, electricity and credit cards, consumers are presented with thousands of complex options and special offers, making it almost impossible to the compare products on their merits.
“This would mean consumers could find the best credit card based on how they actually spent their money over the last 12 months, the best electricity deal based on how much they consume throughout the year, and the best health insurance based on how they actually used their cover – if they used it at all.
