A preschooler has become the new owner of a $1million apartment after her parents decided to give her a head-start in Sydney‘s brutal property market.
Mark and Alana Kensley purchased the property for their daughter, a one-bedroom unit in a ritzy Willoughby development on Sydney’s north shore, earlier this year.
The couple wanted to support their daughter, also named Willoughby, in getting a foot on the property ladder before she’s even started school.
‘The market is incredibly tough right now – especially for younger generations,’ Mr Kensley told Domain.
‘Property prices continue to outpace wage growth, and we just didn’t want our daughter facing that same uphill battle in 20 years.’
The couple plan to rent the property out until their daughter celebrates her 18th birthday, at which point they will transfer it into her name.
They opted for a garden-level apartment in the Willoughby Grounds development, where one-bedroom units start about $1million.
Median rent in the area is about $750 a week.
Mark and Alana Kensley (pictured) bought a home for their four-year-old daughter Willoughby
They bought an apartment in the Willoughby Grounds development (artist’s impression)
Her parents hope she will live in the apartment while studying or rent it out to fund an overseas trip.
Purchasing the property, located on Willoughby Road, was a full-circle moment for the couple who named their daughter after the suburb where they once lived.
Both said they would not have considered making the investment in the past, when home ownership was more accessible.
Though Willoughby is still coming to grips with the acquisition, her parents claim she has begun telling her friends she is a homeowner.
Last year, the average first home buyer in Sydney and Melbourne was in their mid 30s, according to Digital Data Analytics.
This is about a decade older than the average entrant for both cities in 2004.
However, the Kensleys aren’t alone in bucking the trend.
Recently, eight-year-old Ruby McLellan pooled her hard-earned pocket money with her two siblings to help fund the purchase of a four-bedroom home in Victoria.
Pictured is a display suite bedroom for the Willoughby development
The trio managed to raise $6,000 towards the deposit, with the rest contributed by their parents.
They purchased the $670,000 home in Clyde, Victoria three years ago and, within two years, it was worth nearly $1million.
Other families have found less extreme ways to assist their youngest members to buy homes.
A recent survey commissioned by real estate agency LJ Hooker found up to 82 per cent of Aussie parents were open to helping their kids buy a property.
LJ Hooker research group head Mathew Tiller said parents wanted their kids to enjoy the same financial security they felt as property owners.
‘There are many ways they can go about this, from giving them a cash gift, acting as a co-guarantor, or even letting them stay at the family home rent-free until they have saved a deposit,’ he said.
