Five ways to buy your first home sooner (without skimping on avocado toast)

It’s no secret that Australia’s housing market is poorly managed,inequitable,and ridiculously expensive,meaning the dream of owning your own home is a long way off for many young and low-to-middle income Australians.

In 2000,the median-priced freestanding home cost about $300,000 in Sydney and $200,000 in Melbourne. Today,it’s $1.6 million and $1.1 million respectively. Basically,what it used to cost to buy an entire house is now what you need to save just to have a traditional 20 per cent deposit. Ouch.

That’s where we come in.

Today,we are celebrating the launch of our new money podcastIt All Adds Up,brought to you from the newsrooms ofThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald and hosted by us:senior economics writer Jess Irvine and money editor Dom Powell.

It All Adds Up is your new essential guide to the wild world of money:how to get it,how to spend it,and how to invest it.

Each week,you can tune in to hear us provide some easily digestible tips and advice on how you can best manage your finances and get across big issues such as how to buy shares,how much you really need to save for retirement,and have you missed the boat on bitcoin (yes,you have).

For our inaugural episode,we’ve decided to tackle one of the biggest issues in the world of money and one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make:buying your first home. While it might seem an impossible dream,there are still ways to get your foot in the proverbial door without needing a massive deposit or a lucky lottery ticket. And you can do it all without ever forsaking a single piece of avocado toast.

Our first episode,“Five ways to buy your first home sooner”,is now available on all major podcast players,including Apple podcastshere and Spotifyhere. Or,you can listen via the player below. Don’t forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player to listen to weekly episodes,released on Thursdays.

We’ll also be answering your questions each week. You can submit these in text or audio form at italladdsup@nine.com.au - we’d love to hear from you!

It All Adds Up is sponsored byTrilogy Funds.

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