Ditching Renting for Investing

Sara Zarriello

With an already precarious property market prior to the pandemic, Sydney’s significant housing and rental figures continue to rise, especially now whilst drawn out by consistent lockdowns. This has not only put a strain on the pockets of Sydney’s youth, but that of their parents too.

What is now referred to as ‘Generation Boomerang’ has seen Millennial and Generation Z renters move back home to live with their parents as a money saving tactic. It’s recorded that more people aged in the 25-34 bracket in Sydney are choosing to live at home because of greater labour and monetary pressures. What was once separate to the issue of a pandemic, is the failing labour market. As Australia fights an accelerated long-term youth unemployment crisis, the pandemic has only worsened these effects on young people remaining in the workforce.

How young Australians are adjusting to this change is extraordinary. The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has seen an increase in the last 2 years of young investors aged 25 and below planning to invest in the next 12 months. Young Australians from the age of 18 to 25 have begun to enter the stock market with unique characteristics making them stand out amongst their older peers.

Girls That Invest podcast producers Sim and Sonya discussed the stock investing portfolios of younger investors in the episode, the ‘typical’ Gen Z and Millennial stock investing portfolio. They comment on the intersection of the social consciousness and profit margins of companies listed on the Stock Exchange in direct correlation with Millennial and Gen Z investors when picking stocks to buy. Even more interesting is the jump seen in the market as 45% of new investors in 2020 were female reported in the ASX Australian Investor Study 2020.

Gen Z and Millennials are therefore making smarter moves to get their pockets to do the hard work for them whilst the world continues to remain shut down.