Another mainstream article bashes boomers but shoots itself down in flames.
by Gareth E on 12/04/2023
Media unfairly condemns boomers
A Daily Telegraph article worthy of belly laughter features David Koch criticising boomers, along with a straw man argument. The devil in the detail, buried as usual deep in the article body, exposes the rant as nonsense.
The popular claim is that boomers consider today's young adults "too lazy to save a home deposit". That phraseology alone exposes the statement as dubious. You can be too lazy to work hard. You can be too undisciplined to save money. You can't be 'too lazy' to save money.
The claim is a media beat-up. No other boomers I know consider today's young to be lazy as such. Most of them work. Our criticism is that despite millennials earning roughly double what we did in inflation-adjusted terms, they spend it all and still need payday lenders.
That's why all media formats are so determined to attract the eighteen to thirty-year-old age group. Major sponsors are well aware of the spendthrift nature of todays' young adults. Those are the audiences sponsors ideally want for obvious reasons. Hence, mainstream media trying to attract them are telling the young what it pleases them to hear.
Kochie relied upon the commonly quoted but misleading fact that the median multiple is so high. That's the average home price divided by the average wage. It's currently a multiple of ten nationwide, whereas when boomers were paying very high interest it was around six. However, that's for the average home. It may well be out of reach for first home buyers, but cheaper dwellings are not. Flats and units have been available in Adelaide for between two and three hundred thousand dollars. Not ideal perhaps, but better than not owning any property at all. Yet, so many still can't buy them.
Reading further in the article, the point becomes proven. It states clearly that a University Of Sydney survey was conducted of 25-35-year-old prospective first home buyers. Seventy-five percent had less than $5000 in the bank. At that rate, they couldn't buy a property for even $100,000.
That being the case, the median multiple is irrelevant. The young folk have largely locked themselves out of property ownership through their own lifestyle choices. Lower property prices won't help. In fairness though, it's clear that those who seek to profit from young people's impulsive spending habits have little interest in encouraging them to save strongly and diligently for a home deposit.
Property prices are now extraordinarily high. That's due to a range of factors, including immigration and building disruption due to Covid. It's nonsense to sling off at boomers, most of whom married and bought a home by their mid twenties. That's largely the reason they are in a strong position now.
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