The implications of changes in the labour market for the ownership aspirations, housing opportunities and characteristics of first home buyers

Summary

For 60 per cent of households job security concerns made them deliberately more cautious in their home buying: looking in a lower price range; buying a cheaper home; and/or borrowed less. There is more of a relationship between price and employment category than between price and household income. Those in less secure employment are buying cheaper homes while those on higher incomes are not necessarily buying more expensive homes.

Project Number: 40010
Research Theme: Home_ownership
Project Leader: Kupke, Valerie
Funding Year: 2000
Research Centre: Southern

Research & Policy Bulletin

Issue 017: How changes in the labour market have affected first home buyers

How does the changing labour market influence the behaviour of first time home buyers? It is an important research issue, given the evidence suggesting that the traditionally high proportion of home buyers in Australia has fallen by about ten per cent over the past decade.

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Description

This project sought to foster research within Australia into the links between labour and housing markets. The research outcomes of this project were to focus on an assessment of the implications of labour market change for the housing system within South Australia, with a particular emphasis on first time homebuyers. It aimed to concentrate on how changes in the labour market are influencing their attitudes to ownership, their housing opportunities and characteristics. It will also investigate to what extent they believe home ownership to be impacting on their employment opportunities. It was seen as an introductory project with a committed time line that will establish some base line research in the area. As an initial study it would focus on South Australia where the project team had immediate access to, and familiarity with the necessary data. As well significant findings would be of immediate interest in a state which exhibits the fastest ageing population, the rapid sell off of what were considerable levels of public housing stock and the highest mainland unemployment rate. It would background this assessment with a profile of the main changes in the South Australian labour market. It would also introduce discussion on the implications of the South Australian housing system for job growth. The project included the entire state in order to canvass regional identities and non-metropolitan issues in terms of labour and housing markets.

The project was envisaged as an important base upon which further research may be undertaken, in particular how the SA housing system, including the need for housing assistance, is impacting upon sub metropolitan labour markets. This project sought to survey first time homebuyers who have bought in South Australia within the last 2 years. The survey aimed to determine first time buyer profiles in terms of employment, their expectations and attitudes to job security, if and how, this has influenced the timing, location, borrowing arrangements, or nature of their home purchase, their future commitments in terms of HECS and how well off they believe themselves to be. It documents purchasing of first time buyers explicitly within a two-year period and identify when, where, how and what they are buying. It will explores their experience of renting and their attitude to both tenures in terms of their ability or willingness to relocate for job opportunities. It identifies those who have bought previously tenanted properties and explore their attitudes to purchase. The results of the survey will be supported by the 1999 ABS Housing Survey. The ABS survey has not explicitly sought attitudes to and experiences of home ownership in light of job security or other employment issues but could be used to ensure the South Australian sample is representative in terms of population and housing makeup. The SA survey findings would also supplement those of the ABS in terms of providing attitudinal results. The research will also complement work that has been undertaken in the UK by MacLennan et al (1997) under the auspices of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

More Information

Positioning Paper: No. 016: The implications of changes in the labour market for first-home buyers
451 KB PDF Document

Research and Policy Bulletin: Issue 017: How changes in the labour market have affected first home buyers
59 KB PDF Document

Final Report: No. 018: The implications of changes in the labour market for the ownership aspirations, housing opportunities and characteristics of first home buyers
346 KB PDF Document

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