They have a home ownership rate of higher than 80 per cent.
Despite these good financial fortunes – and more likely because of them – boomers are suffering a form of intergenerational guilt, with some suggesting they broke the property market, reports Savings.com.au.
But for those too young to remember or care, boomers faced their own challenges to home ownership including interest rates at an eye wateringly high 17 per cent. Home loans were quite a bit smaller back then, but still, ouch.
So, perhaps the other generations should lighten up on boomers a little.
“Blaming boomers for the plight of the housing sector is to ignore the role of successive government policies over many decades and the perfect storm of variables that have led to the current crisis,” it reports.
“However, a number of studies have concluded boomers indeed had an easier path to home ownership.”
While it’s harder to save a deposit now, some boomers are coming to the rescue for their kids, with home loan assistance in the form of gifts from parents doubling in the past 20 years.
Boomers who aren’t in a position to hand over a gift-wrapped home deposit could consider helping their kids in lower risk ways, says Savings.com.au. These include, renting out an investment property at a fair rent to your kids, letting the kids move back in or entering into a co-ownership arrangement on a jointly owned property.
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