Dan Goss, University of Tasmania

Accessing the Great Australian Dream: Pathways into first home ownership

Owner-occupation is the most sought after form of housing tenure in Australia; it is the ‘Great Australian Dream’ (Badcock and Beer 2000: 12-13; Gurney 1999: 168). But housing affordability is in 2007 at its lowest point since 1984, the year a measure of affordability began (HIA 2007). Despite this decline in affordability, there are other signs that prospective first home buyers hold onto the dream: it is estimated that in September 2006, 476,000 (up from 396,000 in the previous quarter) Australians intended to purchase their first home within the year (Wizard 2007). It could be reasonably argued that the ‘Great Australian Dream’ is alive and well. This research does not, however, presume there is one single dream of a ‘home of one’s own’ at its core. Rather, it investigates the existence of multiple dreams and the pathways to those dreams. In the context of declining affordability, where attaining the first home now requires a qualifying income higher than the average annual household income, this study documents the first home purchase experience, that is, the pathway between making the decision to purchase and actually seeing that decision through.

This research aims to come to an understanding of how first home buyers strategise and negotiate around the choices and constraints faced in the first home purchase experience, and how they utilise the resources available to them. This project will provide a comparison between first home buyers’ aspirations and strategies prior to purchasing a home and their post-purchase experiences of living in their own home. It also aims to ascertain whether the strategies first home-buyers put in place to attain owner-occupation are linked to their particular ‘dream’ of home ownership.

To accomplish its aims, this research will take an interpretive approach. Data will be collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 aspiring first home buyers in Tasmania. The initial interview will occur as they look for a first home, and the follow-up interview after they have purchased it. The research will also follow up with those who are unable to realise ‘the dream’ in order to come to an understanding of why they were unsuccessful.

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