Millennials should stop buying so many avocados if they want to be able to afford a home one day, according to an Australian billionaire.
“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” Tim Gurner, a luxury real estate developer in Australia, told Australian news show 60 Minutes.
American adults born after 1980 are somewhat slower to invest in their first home than their parents, but can take advantage of low interest rates and more access to credit than the previous generation, CNN Money reports.
In Australia, the situation is worse. Millennials in Australia are ranked second to last for home ownership in the world compared to others in their generation, according to a global study released in April.
Around 35 percent of American millennials are homeowners, compared to about 28 percent of millennials in Australia, according to a recent HSBC study.
Purchasing avocados and expensive coffee regularly add up over time, and Gurner said millennial expect too much from their budget.
“You have to start to get realistic about your expectations,” Gurner said. “There is no question we are at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high. The people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it, saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property investment ladder.”
Young people “want to eat out every day, they want to travel to Europe every year,” Gurner said. “This generation is watching the Kardashians and thinking that’s normal. Thinking that owning a Bentley is normal, that owning a BMW is normal.”
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