Young Australians are priced out — but the real story is far more empowering. They’re not stepping back from the market; they’re stepping in with strategy, curiosity, and better tools than ever. From rentvesting to financial education on TikTok, buyers today are finding new ways to enter the market on their own terms. 

Today’s first home buyers are strategic, curious, and using platforms like TikTok to learn about rentvesting, borrowing, and smart property decisions.

In this episode, Meighan and Veronica chat with Ray White economists Nerida Conisbee and Atom Go Tian about their research into what first home buyers are actually doing. From trending TikTok finance topics to the rise of rentvesting and the impact of the 5% deposit scheme, the data shows buyers are taking action — not giving up.

We break down why younger buyers trust social media over traditional media, how financial literacy is growing fast, and why many are choosing strategy over “dream homes.”

Episode Highlights

00:00 — Introduction: First Home Buyers Are Getting Smarter

00:23 — Meet the Hosts and Their Mission

01:04 —Debunking the Media Narrative

01:39 — Strategies of Modern First Home Buyers

02:27 — The Role of Social Media in Property Education

03:32 — Rentvesting: A Popular Strategy

04:23 — Challenges and Misconceptions

07:19 — Engagement Patterns on TikTok

09:46 — Financial Literacy and Social Media

22:12 — The Importance of Location-Specific Research

31:03 — Advice for First Home Buyers

32:57 — Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Course Details:

• THE First Home Buyer Course is our Step-By-Step, No BS Guide to Every Stage of The Home Buying Process – It’s the next best thing to having your own buyer’s agent. With our expert guidance, you’ll know what to do at every step along the way. Become a home owner faster and easier. Click here: https://homebuyeracademy.com.au/YFHBG

If you enjoyed today’s podcast, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the show! There’s more to come, so we hope to have you along with us on this journey!

• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFirstHomeBuyerCourse
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/your-first-home-buyer-guide-podcast/id1544701825

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7GyrfXoqvDxjqNRv40NVQs?si=7c8bc4362fab421f

HBA 258 - Why Young Buyers Aren’t Giving Up — They’re Getting Strategic

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Veronica: getting smarter. And on TikTok, they're learning about rentvesting home loans and property growth. Today we're talking to Nerida Conisbee and Atom Go Tian about why first home buyers are more strategic than

Meighan: ever.

​

Speaker: Welcome to your first home buyer. Guide the podcast for first home buyers who want to feel confident, smart, and totally in control of their property journey. I'm Veronica, and that was Megan. And yes, we are probably old enough to be your mom's, which is a good thing because between us, we've got decades of experience and we've got your back every step of the way.

Speaker: You'll wanna hear this episode. I.

​

Meighan: Now we've all heard it. Young Australians are priced out of the property market, but honestly, that's not the whole story. There's a new generation of first home buyers who aren't waiting for things to get easier. They're just getting smarter.

Veronica: Yep. And They're getting strategic informed and using social media to learn about property finance and investment, not just dream homes.

Meighan: that's what we're unpacking today with property economists, t Cosby and Adam Gat from Ray White, whose recent research reveals how first home buyers are approaching property in a totally new way.

Veronica: So Nette and Adam are welcome and let's start with that headline idea.

Veronica: Everyone says that young home buyers are priced out, but your analysis suggests that they're actually more active and strategic than ever. What made you wanna dig deeper into that story?

Nerida: they don't know what to do. ~Um, they, ~they feel like they've had a, raw deal in the market and we know that's the case. But when we were talking to first home buyers on the ground, what we were finding is that they want to build wealth. ~Um, ~they're aware of the situation, but also they're wanting to be really strategic.

Nerida: So it was quite, quite a different narrative compared to the one that we were reading ~in, ~in the media. So how do we prove this up? and the way we thought we'd do it is, have a look at. Trends on social media. So understanding what they're looking at, types of content ~they,~ they are, ~um,~ digging more deeply into.

Nerida: ~And, ~and it was quite interesting that the type of content they liked wasn't around being a victim ~of, ~of the market or being a victim as a young first home buyer, a lot of it was around, well, how do I get into the market? ~How do I, ~how do I rent vests? ~Um, ~what are the strategies I can use to, buy my first home ~and, ~and start to build wealth?

Meighan: I'm gonna Europe. ~Um, ~which, you know, is not a strategy either, but. what you found in the work that you did, how does this new generation of first home buyers different in their approach to home buying compared to say, you know, 10 or 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when Veronica and I first bought our house

Nerida: Yeah, so I guess, there's a lot of strategies that they're using. I think, you know, ~a, ~a popular one is rent vesting. And so, it is one that younger people, regardless of where they're getting their money from,~ can,~ can partake in. Obviously you can't choose to have a wealthy parent that gives you lots of money, but you can look at alternative,~ um,~ avenues to get into the market.

Nerida: So. it's just a different approach. You know, I think even 10 years ago, reinvesting wasn't, I mean, it was, it happened, but it is likely, you know, again, we can't really track it, but it is likely much more popular now than it was back then.

Veronica: It's quite fascinating that you've found that the.

Veronica: Mainstream media and that sort of narrative of doom and gloom, the affordability challenge, you know, baby boomers have done, ~you know, ~these younger generations out of home ownership ~and, ~and yet that very younger generation isn't necessarily buying into that narrative. and also they're not looking at that same mainstream media either.

Atom: Yeah. ~Well it, ~it really can be broken down to like who's speaking and, who's listening. Right. And so, we've been focusing a lot on ~this, ~this market about who's listening and what they're hearing. But then importantly, ~um. ~We could shift that tension as well to what people are saying. And in traditional media, they like to do focus on this, on the crisis that's happening.

Atom: but that's just one segment of the people speaking. And, you have, ~I guess, ~people like us who are like starting to get on social media and Instagram ~and, ~and we're trying to bring this optimistic voice in the market. And we're not alone. We're not the only ones. taking this proactive view, trying to encourage people and, show people the way, I would count yourselves as one of these people as well.

Atom: ~Um, ~I'm seeing that in your background. There are 10 steps, and I don't think these 10 steps happen in a year. So it's, it's really this long-term perspective that people are hearing and it seems that they're, enjoying this, narrative more.

Meighan: I, I really, really like that because that is what we try and do. We try and give people actions and things that they can do to move themselves forward rather than, too hard, never gonna be able to do it. ~Um, ~

Nerida: Well, yeah, I think it's also too, obviously I'm not even first home by category, but even when, you know, you look at your own habits on social media, you don't.

Nerida: purposely seek out things that make you feel bad about yourself. Like it's, ~you, you know,~ occasionally you come across stuff and it makes you contemplate things. But, certainly if I was looking for financial advice or trying to understand something, I'm not gonna go down that negative.

Nerida: But there's definitely ways to get in there, and I think that's important.

Veronica: Adam, you said something there about, I don't like being told, we don't like being told we can't do it or that we are locked. And I do love that sort of positivity to say, okay, well let's find another way to skin this cat.

Veronica: ~You know, ~how are we going to make this happen? Uh, you guys analyze tiktoks top 100 hashtags in the financial investment at home improvement categories. What surprised you most about the engagement patterns you uncovered?

Nerida: Yeah, I guess it was just the, diversity, I think has given us quite a lot of,~ um,~ I guess food for thought because, when we talk to first time buyers, we've got a fairly,~ um,~ stable narrative around, you know, you should buy a first home because it'll set you up.

Nerida: So It's shape our strategy in targeting younger people in, terms of understanding things, the, ~the, ~demystifying the market particularly, you know, I think know, there's so much jargon that when you're in the industry, you're very familiar with. But,~ um, you know, ~you know, even something like negative gearing that people are like, oh yeah, that's, ~that's, ~that's driven up prices to an unaffordable level.

Nerida: We'll scrap that and it will be great, but, you know, not really understanding the intricacies of, What would happen if you scrap that? I think, you know, there's a lot of, kind of next steps that people aren't that familiar with.

Meighan: Yeah. Interestingly, four of the top 10 financial hashtags directly targeted first time buyers.

Meighan: What do you think that says about this demographic and how they're seeking information? Who they trust to deliver that information to them?

Atom: yeah, I guess it goes back to this thing where people are seeking,~ um,~ advice rather than, crisis. So tiktoks, searching hashtag tells us what people are looking for.

Atom: I mean. There's the best time to have ever bought a house will always be 10 years ago. I can imagine that if for yourselves, when you were buying a house that the narrative at the time was to buy, oh, it's too late. You should have bought 10 years ago. But guess what, you're in high school back then.

Atom: There's nothing we could have done. and so the narrative is evolving,~ um, with, with, ~with the landscape, right? so, ~the, ~the negative side of things is always gonna be the same. House prices are expensive. It's, it's getting ahead of you. the cool thing is that the solutions, and the path to home ownership, they're evolving and getting more, clear for people. ~Um, ~that's what TikTok is showing us. it's not the problem's the same, but ~the, ~the solutions are evolving and, the searches now may, tell us one thing, but in a year it'll be a different thing. 'cause people learn ~as, ~as they, enter the market and they grow.

Veronica: Or that there's a discernment there? Or is there sort of everything gets consumed without necessarily being able to work out what's good advice and what's not necessarily that good?

Nerida: I think there's no doubt that people that are, doing more engaging content are getting the hits in terms of, of people looking at it.

Nerida: ~Um, ~but generally ~it, ~it does seem to be the case that ~the, ~the more,~ um,~ information you are providing eventually is where people end up. I think, ~you know,~ when people are at the start of their journey, like they would be looking at things that are. Fairly lightweight. they don't understand the intricacies.

Nerida: I think ~it's a, ~it's a learning process. but over time as they, you know, as they start to become better educated, they'll, they'll do deeper dives and start to engage with different content. I think they then going back to traditional media, I think the idea of. A first home buyer starting with a, an article written in traditional me, you know, a long form article to try and understand the market is over because, that's in the initial stages of looking.

Veronica: drives the algorithm too, doesn't it?

Veronica: Yeah. They start engaging with is gonna get more and more of that. Yeah. Well

Nerida: that's true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's true. It was, it was interesting because I, ~I, ~I spoke to someone ~in, ~in traditional media and they, they wrote an article up and, and they were like, oh, TikTok is telling first home buyers to be optimistic.

Nerida: And it was like, well, no, that's actually, you know, that's not, that's not how TikTok works. You know, people seek out rates, seek out information, and then it gives it information back. And, it was interesting like they kind of like wrote the article, like TikTok it's just another form of, traditional media, but obviously it's not because it's thousands and thousands of different sorts of media and from thousands of different people.

Nerida: So it it is quite different.

Meighan: it's

Veronica: an interesting twist though, isn't it, because you think about it like, you know, ~You know, ~traditional media basically.

Veronica: People are optimistic and that's why they're hunting out this content. And I find that so interesting because the mainstream media is really dogged with ~this, ~this narrative. Yeah. And not letting go on it. And it does drive policy and, and it's very political as well. and, you know, you talked about, that narrative that you just gotta get on the ladder and, it will, help you basically build your financial future.

Veronica: You've gotta get on that ladder. But there's, like, for example, the political narrative at the minute is all about supply, supply, supply. It's not necessarily helpful, and I'm not sure it connects that well with, young buyers. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Nerida: I think that the, the challenge I think with the supply narrative is that people think, oh, this will solve it.

Nerida: ~it's, ~it's gonna be those a thousand apartments that are built in wherever is, they're gonna be a lot cheaper and that will solve things. So I think, again, it's the complexities of housing is that it's, a lot of drivers of supply and a lot of drivers of pricing in particular are quite complex and they're not easy to solve.

Nerida: But,~ um,~ again, you know, if, if you're a first home buyer, you're only really interested in it for yourself and you just wanna get in the market and how do I do that? Like, that's, really the problem that you're trying to solve.

Meighan: It is indeed. And, and one of the big takeaways that I, got from, ~um.~

Meighan: ~Uh, ~the report was that home buyers are starting to see the property as part of a wealth building strategy. Mm-hmm. Not just as a place to live. And of course, a home or a roof or shelter is one of our basic needs in, the hierarchy of needs, but it's also now for a lot of people,~ um,~ what they see as part of their future.

Meighan: How significant is that mind shift, do you think, for the property market overall?

Nerida: ~Um. ~But then I, it doesn't tend to resonate that well. It's a long way away, isn't it? Yeah, it's so far away. And I, and so I think they're like, oh, like I'm 28, you know, I'm not gonna retire for 40 years. What does it really matter at this point? ~Um, I mean, ~

Atom: my personal feelings that. the younger generations are becoming more financially literate and this conversation about property and being a first home buyer is part of this bigger picture of people just, being more interested in, finance and investment.

Atom: ~It's, ~and so property becomes one aspect of this, big portfolio of things that they're considering. even cryptocurrency is like a big thing. Gold was a big thing. And so people are curious in general, Including property as an investment and not just as a house.

Meighan: Oh, really? Over the quarter?

Atom: Yeah. So, and data in October. So of course the first home, the 5%,~ um,~ the deposit ~was, ~was put into place. And so, ~um, ~that, system and that incentive went into place and people immediately, we were seeing them taking action.

Atom: so. Again, like I'm, I'm playing a lot of threads here, right? So there's, this whole narrative that this supplies the problem and the government's not helping. And at the same time on TikTok, there's a lot of searches, going into home ownership ~and, ~and investing. but.

Atom: Underlying all of this, that there is actually government support coming in. incentives are being easier. Property caps are increasing to accommodate higher prices. And so, the environment is actually,~ um,~ in place for those people seeking the information and, and ready to take action. ~Um, ~so that was really, positive news for us that, you know, on the one hand.

Atom: People are complaining, or, well, there are some people complaining, but then there are also people taking action. But here's the problem. People complaining or speaking about their problems, people taking action, they're not saying anything.

Meighan: That's

Atom: so true, isn't it? ~So, ~so all you're gonna hear are the problems because the people.

Atom: It is.

Nerida: Seeing that people, you know, if you told anyone you are gonna buy a house and it will never go off in value. You can guarantee that they would not be happy about that. You know, I think it's, it is true that, ~you know, ~as a first home buyer, you do want capital growth. 'cause you do wanna get onto that property ladder and you do wanna upgrade.

Nerida: But when you're in the market, right at that point before you've bought, you're like please keep them stable. I don't want 'em to go on

Veronica: That's, it's so true, isn't it? we're hypocrites. We are. Do you think this focus on property as an investment tool, so through your ideas like reinvesting and that concept, you know, building generational wealth, do you think it's changing the way people define home ownership success?

Veronica: I mean, we happy now to call ourselves a homeowner if we don't live in it.

Nerida: well, we do know that people will be renting longer, I think fact that there has been greater discussion around renting ~is, ~is a positive.

Nerida: ~Um, ~so I think, ~it's, ~it's important. It has been recognized that, you know, this is not necessarily the future of everyone owning a home and never has been, but ~that, ~that there is ~more, ~more focus on it and not just government focus, but sort of more general

Meighan: focus as well. Yeah, interesting.

Meighan: Now in the report you point out that younger buyers are prioritizing education over aspiration. And I really like that, you know, as educators for first time buyers ourselves, we're excited about that. they're going, more engaging with hashtags like property tips and home loans, Australia rather than dream home content.

Meighan: And what does that tell us about how they're preparing for the buying process?

Nerida: So, it's quite a, you know, a com, your first home's, not your forever home. So I think, that's an important message to get across.

Atom: I guess people are like, they know what they want and so they're just interested in how to get there. ~um. ~Well, it's interesting because,~ um,~ I was speaking to a friend,~ um,~ a few weeks back and he was like, why do people even want the house? like ~like, um. of, why,~ why do we need a house?

Atom: So there was this whole conversation about like, ~um, ~but I admit that he's an outlier in this case because most people are just like, oh, we want a house. And, that was the first time we really thought about, and it was like, ~ um,~ of course you want like the security and the functionalities of a house,~ but,~ but going beyond that, it seems people are just like,~ um,~ that's their expression of how to invest and how, of the lifestyle they aspire for themselves. So it's, speaking to this broader dream and not just, property. we speak about like home ownership, but it's not really just about the house, It's about the life you want to live ~and, and, ~and the community you want to belong in.

Atom: And so that's the bigger picture really about, home ownership. And that's what people are like. That's what

Meighan: a dream

Atom: praying

Meighan: Yep. Whatever that future looks like for them and, and in their plans. But I, do feel, very positive that a lot of those hashtags that first time buyers are using are around the educational side of process.

Nerida: Yeah, ~ and,~ and I think that's the whole thing with TikTok.

Nerida: I mean, again, coming back to what Adam was saying around financial education, that younger generations are much more, literate on finance than certainly my generation where I, I'm sure you know, older generations as well, that, ~you know, ~when I was growing up, I was like, oh yeah, buy a house. You know, like your parents pay off your mortgage, get paid as quickly as possible.

Nerida: You know, like that was kind of the dominant message. Whereas now there's a lot more education, like how do you get into shares and how do you buy Bitcoin and is it worthwhile buying a house? Coming back ~to, ~to Adam's comment, should you rent vest? And I think now that availability of information has exploded because there's just so many different people talking about it.

Nerida: And I think that's really helpful.

Veronica: But I guess if it drives curiosity and people are able to keep searching, you know, until they find something that is, is really solid advice. But do you think that traditional players in the property industry, you know, banks and brokers, real estate agents have caught up? As to how this audience actually wants to learn now, I mean, you guys obviously Ray White's obviously, ~you know, ~going down this path and looking at it quite seriously, but are you early adopters or do you think that you are just following a wave at the moment?

Atom: ~I would, ~I would definitely say we're early adopters. Yeah, I think so. We've observed that. ~Um. ~The Ray White as a brand is really popular with, the older generations. And so we noticed that,~ um,~ these younger generations, they don't know about us and, they have a misconception of the brand.

Atom: That's different. and that's where we're working hard on. And that's where the challenge is because, um, we're trying to understand what they're looking for and, the problems that ~they're, they're ~they're facing. And so. ~I, ~it's like speaking to my problems and going from there.

Atom: ~Um, ~whereas maybe more traditional brands might, Be fixed in their ways in the old system people them. And so maybe in this system, we need to be finding them because there's such a wealth of, options out there.

Nerida: I think the other thing too, I, I'd say that,~ um,~ like the banks, for example do have a lot of legacy systems and a lot of legal issues and.

Nerida: by its nature, social has to be nimble. And when you're in such a large organization, really hard to be nimble. And I think that's, is a problem ~for, ~for some of the bigger brands. Nimble and approachable. Yeah. I mean, approachable is another thing too, because I think,~ um,~ you know, if you have a look at what works on Instagram, I mean, look, I'm not expert on Instagram at all, but like if you look at what works on Instagram, it is not an ad ~from, ~from a bank saying.

Meighan: That's a good point.

Meighan: Yeah. Now your data shows that there's a lot of engagement with really city specific or location specific content, like, you know, hashtag Brisbane real Estate or hashtag Sydney Real Estate. What do you think that reveals about how first time buyers are researching the market?

Nerida: Yeah, I mean, they are location specific and I think, and also,~ um,~ what we were interested in was that it was quite broad ~what, ~what ~they were, ~they were looking at.

Nerida: And again, I think this is a big switch that you know, you looked sort of 20 years ago, the, the idea of as a Melbourne person buying in Brisbane, you wouldn't have even. Crossed your mind to do it, but now young people or all people, you know, investors as well, that, they are much, more broadly than they did previously and seeing it as a very viable option.

Nerida: So again, I think it's education, you know, they're start, they're much better educated than previous generations were. With regards to performance of property.

Veronica: I mean there is a lot of noise out there, particularly on the, investment circles and investment threads as well. So I guess it does make sense the first time buyers will get caught up in that, you know, they hear the frenzy around Perth, for example, or, Adelaide or Brisbane, and then they think, well, that's where I've gotta be investing in buying.

Veronica: So that sort of does make sense. ~Um, ~it sort. It makes me a bit worried for them to be honest at the same time. But,

Meighan: a herd thing, isn't it? Follow, yeah,

Veronica: ~yeah, ~yeah. Because of course, they are competing in the same price bracket as a lot of investors as well, so it does mean that it's a really hotly contested,~ um,~ segment of the market, which does lead to some more dangers of buying into zones that are particularly overheated with the wrong type of demographic, if you like.

Nerida: ~I mean, ~we're found is the way you communicate is so important.

Nerida: ~So, um, ~The younger generations as being, you know, they don't have the attention span and they can't cope with anything long form, and I don't think that's really the case. I think they start with short form and then they move to long form and probably yeah,

Meighan: dig in deeper when they're interested.

Meighan: Yeah.

Atom: I think, there's this, aspect pushing yourself and forcing yourself on the people that you're. Trying to help. maybe in the landscape now where there's such an abundance of information and choice,~ the,~ the power dynamic has kind of shifted ~to the, ~to the consumer.

Atom: And if you are a professional and you're providing a service, you can't simply just,~ um,~ push yourself onto others. 'cause they can say no and go to someone else. instead ~the, ~the mindset shifts to really adding value. ~Um, ~and then hoping that by putting yourself out there, people. Come to you instead of, forcing yourself.

Atom: Yes. And so the value that you bring upfront becomes even more important.

Veronica: we've noticed that actually, you know, a lot of feedback.

Veronica: Anecdotally, we've been talking to people about how they've been, you know, turning to JCPT or copilot or whatever to give them property investment,~ um,~ guidance, which is actually quite alarming really, but in terms of a search engine, you know, you can see how that can sort of streamline lots of different sources of, you know, new property,~ um,~ listings and, aggregate them into one.

Veronica: Portal. So the portals might be a little bit worried. I know they're sort of publicly saying they're not, but I think they must be. ~Um, ~based on what you've seen then, I mean, do you believe this new generation of informed, you know, more strategic first home buyers, but also that they behave differently, do you think ~that ~that could, how or how could that reshape the property market over the next decade do you think?

Nerida: I think people are. Thinking like wider as well. We mentioned people in Melbourne, for example, looking in Brisbane. So Age that we're in ~is, ~is really, less caged and less local. So people are able to see how, other markets are doing and they're curious about, let's say you live in Sydney, you can look at Newcastle and regional areas, or you can look at other cities.

Atom: And so in fact, the data supports this and, and. with the pandemic happening and, the lifestyle migration that we observed, we saw house prices in regional areas and o other major cities growing. and this trend is likely to keep increasing and hopefully this means that, these hotspots and where people ~are,~ are living, keeps growing as, people become more aware of, where they can live.

Meighan: so we're talking about potentially,~ um,~ shorter hold periods. There is quite a cost involved in turning properties over. So there's the cost of exiting the property and there's the cost of entering into another property and largely that stamp duty and there's no concessions.

Nerida: it's a whole another topic, stamp duty versus land tax, which, it's fascinating. I mean, this is probably, I don't know if you can cut this one out. This is a side issue, but in New Zealand, they don't have. Stamp duty got land tax. and you know, I know there's a lot of reasons. ~You know, we, ~we want to, you know, land tax works better, but what we saw in New Zealand ~was a, ~was a very fast trading environment during the pandemic and there was nothing stopping people 'cause there's no stamp duty.

Nerida: Yeah. And what we saw in New Zealand, people were speculating and they were speculating in the market and then suddenly. Interest rates started to rise and then it gets crashed really badly. And I think that's, you know, when we talk about stamp duty and quicker trading of property, it's actually quite dangerous for property.

Nerida: And that I use often as a case study to say, New Zealand had a, a very bad fallout ~from a, ~from a speculative environment. I don't think for firsthand, I don't think they'll be trading that quickly. I don't think they'll be trading nine months at a time and flicking in and out.

Veronica: interesting, you know, and yeah. This is a, topic for an entire other podcast around the, the virtues of stamp duty. Anyone thinks Stamp Duty's got or otherwise? No. No. However, that does sound like a virtuous stamp duty that in a way to Decommoditize property, you know, for basically free up the market, then people are more likely to, as you say, to be speculative.

Veronica: ~Um. ~Another risk though I wonder about is, you know, is there a risk of all this education that people now have access to? ~Um, ~could it lead to, ~you know,~ analysis paralysis, you know, actually become too cautious to actually take action before they could only think about buying in the city they're living in.

Veronica: Now all of a sudden they can buy across the whole country and there's all these other options for them. Is there any evidence that it might slow people's decision making down.

Atom: we don't have the data to prove it, but I'd imagine it would.

Nerida: Maybe that's

Meighan: the next research topic.

Nerida: Yeah. I do think that's a challenge. I think, when you do have too much information, it does become even more challenging at once.

Veronica: And that sort of goes to that idea. It's more complex to buy a house or an apartment. There's just so many more things to take into account. It's like our brains, oh, that's just too hard. Or, I just wanna simplify things. So I want many analysis. ~I, ~I think one of the things that has been interesting has been the rise of buyer agents because of that.

Nerida: And I think that. Using a buyer's agent. Like even if you're researching everything and you're, you know, you've decided to buy a home in,~ um, you know,~ rent vest in Brisbane as a Sydney resident, I don't look, again, I can't know for sure, but I think there would be a lot of people using buyer's agents to make that transaction.

Nerida: So I think. You know, again, coming back to the fact that people are educated, they're learning more social's, really helping when it comes to the crunch. They are going to see a mortgage broker and they're going to, they're getting, ~you know, ~in-person advice how to do these things. I just

Veronica: hope that they're using a buyer's agent whose knows more than they do because sadly like barrier to entry and, and me agent's buying in, in other locations, they don't even go there.

Meighan: I'm really curious, what signs would you look for in the data over the next year to confirm whether this kind of mindset is this strategic thinking, first time buyer mindset is actually translating into real buying behavior.

Nerida: I guess one of the things we are looking at more, we'll have another review of this, you know, in six months time.

Nerida: But we are also looking at our own social media platforms to see what works and,~ um,~ you know, we're definitely seeing things like, ~um. ~Aham did a piece on the fact that there's a lot of first home buyer,~ um,~ loans coming through. You know, that sort of content ~does, ~does really well. We know interest rate commentaries always do well.

Nerida: Every, but, you know, that could be any age group. So, you know, that's not necessarily younger people, but because we have our own platform, we are targeting younger people, we, can actually now track it, ~you know, ~track what they're interested in to a greater degree rather than looking at general trends.

Meighan: ~Hmm. ~

Atom: one advice for the foster, for virus out there.

Atom: ~Um, ~I would save, that's probably the best thing you can do. Save up,

Meighan: sacrifice and save

Atom: is what I'm doing.

Meighan: Are you on a first time buyer journey at the moment? Yes, I am as well. Oh, that's wonderful. Oh, I'm gonna keep track of this. I hope you, when you've had success story, we'll get you, we'll get you on the podcast and do a, a case study with you.

Veronica: ~I, ~I love that. The best advice is to save. And also, it's funny 'cause I literally just had lunch with a mortgage broker and, and he was saying that, you know, his advice is don't go to Bali until you've actually bought a house, because you'd have to save 5% now as long as you stay under the cap, plus 5% for cost.

Veronica: So you've gotta save 10% of the purchase price. Don't go to Bali.

Atom: and there's no property caps ~for, ~for that scheme. And so that allows you to benefit from tax savings and from,~ um,~ super appreciation. So that's. A more practical thing besides saving. That's, that, that's another

Meighan: way to save. That is another method. Yeah.

Atom: If you wanna do more research on something, that's, that's been a very good, um, scheme.

Meighan: We actually did a podcast episode on that, a few months ago. ~If, ~if any of our listeners wanna go back to that one. ~Um, ~and it was how some of the schemes actually interact with each other with unintended consequences. So, one of the lessons that, one of our property buying business in Brisbane,~ um,~ was that they did that, but when you take the money out of the supersaver scheme, it actually adds to your taxable income. And what that did was push them over a specific threshold for another incentive that they had intended to get. So you've gotta be really careful, Adam, if you're going down that path of abusing you on.

Meighan: Just check any other unintended consequences that might come out. So our final

Nerida: ~Um, ~I think That when you buy a first home, obviously you do need to take a very big mortgage out, but I think you do need to be mindful that life changes and ~you, ~you know, there's periods where you may be unemployed or when you, ~you know, ~starting a family or you need to take time off work.

Nerida: So look at it as a long game and, Borrow according.

Veronica: Brilliant advice, the right piece of advice, great chat. And it's been very interesting and I think heartful that,~ uh,~ first home buyers aren't, you know, at the mercy and being, seeing themselves as victims on the whole,~ uh,~ despite what mainstream media might, what have you believed.

Veronica: So I think it's been really in a really interesting chat. Thank you so much for coming along and thanks for having us.

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Speaker 4: We hope to see you there soon.