A high-profile Sydney real estate agent has lashed the government for not doing enough to help Australians through the housing crisis, as he claimed it would take a typical first home buyer 40 years to save for a deposit in Sydney.
Tom Panos filmed himself in a café, highlighting one of the staff members working at the counter behind him and noting the length of time it would take the young barista to save for a home.
“See the guy behind us, I know what he’s making, $20 or $30 an hour, works his a*** off,” Panos said.
“And guess what? If this guy starts saving up, he’ll be able to get a deposit for a property when he’s 63 years of age, 63 years of age, he’ll have a deposit.”
Panos said there was too much time spent on a multitude of other issues that were not as pressing, “yet this guy is going to have to work for 45 years to get a deposit”.
“There seems to be a solution to it. What’s the solution? Set up an OnlyFans account.
“You get 200k a month. You’ve got OnlyFans (workers) buying one, two, three properties.”
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He said the government should be focussed on housing as the most important issue Australians were facing.
In a follow-up video, Panos spoke more about the state of the housing market.
“You’ve got a housing crisis where you’ve got people that are earning $150,000 a year that cannot rent out a property, they’re going in putting application after application.
“And yet you’ve got the government who is … more concerned with every other issue than issues that are affecting the majority of people
“And I think people are getting fed up.”
Panos said the government should make it easier to get development approvals to subdivide land.
“There is no point saying we’ve got houses out in Far North Queensland or in the middle of Australia,” he said.
“Look where people are going and look at the data of immigrants, you’ve got to get people into Sydney and Melbourne.
“That is where most people are going to, you’ve got to solve the supply issue.”
Social media users agreed with Panos’s sentiment, with some saying they had considered leaving Australia so they could “have a future”.
“The country is cooked,” one person said. “Done paying 70 per cent of our income for housing.”
Data conflicts with claims
Although Panos claimed it would take young Australians decades to save for a deposit, Domain and PEXA Group say the situation is much less dire.
Prospective buyers in Sydney have it the hardest, with Domain estimating it will take six years and eight months to save for a home, while PEXA estimates it will take almost eight years.
A recent analysis by Finder estimated that a minimum household income of $171,223 a year is required to buy a house.
This is based on the average house price of $867,188.
To buy an average unit, which costs $610,789, a household would need to earn $120,598.
The research shows homeownership in Australia is almost near-impossible for someone on a single income, with the average full-time worker earning $98,218 per year according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
For those looking to buy in Sydney, the figures climb even higher.
With the average home priced at $1.3 million, households would need to earn at least $263,195.
A unit in Sydney costs $755,000 on average, requiring an income of $149,072 a year.
Finder head of consumer research Graham Cooke said the data was concerning for prospective first-time buyers.
“Many Australians dream of owning their own home, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get your foot in the door,” he said.
“Those living in major capital cities now require a substantial household income just to be able to comfortably service the average mortgage, without even considering saving for a deposit.”