Posted by 
Younger Australians have been described as having been effectively robbed of the opportunity to save for a house deposit, having lived through what's been called "the lost decade."
Researchers at the Per Capita think tank have released data showing that young people are facing the consequences of low wage growth from 2012 to 2022.
The average wage is almost $12,000 lower than it would have been if wage growth had kept pace with its historical average, according to Per Capita's analysis.
READ MORE: Woman arrested after man fatally stabbed at Victorian home
The research found that real wages increased by just 0.2 per cent each year during the decade leading up to 2022.
The lack of real wage growth experienced by Millennial and Gen Z Australians during the first decade of their working lives combined with rapidly increasing house prices, is locking them out of the housing market, according to analysis.
Lead author Emma Dawson said the report showed the power of wages in achieving housing affordability.
"Data from Australia's major banks shows that the typical first home buyer is a couple in their mid-30s borrowing just under $500,000. If they had enjoyed the same wage growth as their parents did early in their careers, they would have earned an additional $54,000 each over the Lost Decade. Combined, that would have been enough for a 20 per cent deposit on their first home today," Dawson said.
"In late 2022, almost two-thirds of young people told Per Capita's Australian Housing Monitor that the only way they would ever be able to buy a home was if they got a large inheritance."
READ MORE: Three children, woman stabbed in western Sydney
Per Capita estimates the income lost amounted to more than $600 billion across the decade.
Dawson said young Australians believe that someone they love will have to die before they can achieve home ownership.
"This is a damning indictment of the loss of social mobility in a country long considered the land of the fair go," she said.
"This report shows the power of wages in achieving housing affordability. Supply-side measures to build more homes are critical but allowing people to get ahead with wage increases is a critical factor in affordability."
Homeownership among people aged in their early 30s has dropped from 60 per cent in the 1980s to just over 40 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The number of first home buyers also dropped nationally by 3.2 per cent in September 2024.
DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
