A look at Australians’ financial literacy and ability to save.
Most Australians are ambitious when it comes to setting big, long-term life goals. Think moving out of home, buying your own place to live in or paying off your loans to be debt free. At Great Southern Bank, we are driven by our purpose of helping all Australians own their own home, and supporting their financial goals and needs along the way.
The Great Southern Bank No Place Like Home report explores the home ownership experience and how Australians feel at different stages of the journey. The report is divided into three different phases – Happily, Clever and After.
In this third chapter of our research – the After phase – we’re taking a closer look at how Australians feel about their financial future in the current environment and whether home ownership contributes to financial security.
As part of our research, we also developed the Happily Clever After Sentiment Tracker. In this report, we track how confident Australians are feeling about progress towards their future financial goals.
A word from our Chief Customer Officer
What happens in the months and years after you start saving for a home, after the smell of the new paint has faded, after the kids have left home?
“What happens after” is the key question in this third instalment of our Great Southern Bank No Place Like Home report. Our Bank is driven by our purpose to help all Australians own their own home, and we understand that home ownership doesn’t start and end with having your loan approved or getting the keys to your new home.
The home ownership journey typically spans many years and isn’t always straightforward. That’s why our report considers how financial security and aspirations change with each new phase of life, and any unexpected curve balls that come along.
Cost-of-living pressure is one of these challenges and while there is no doubt that people’s sense of financial security has been affected by the economic environment, Australians are a resilient bunch. Many are finding creative strategies to keep their financial aspirations alive or pay off their home loans sooner.
Our research suggests we might see the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs, as Australian homeowners turn to side hustles and secondary income streams to supplement their incomes and stay focused on paying off their home loans.
These insights confirm many people are seeing this time of higher prices and costs as a setback rather than a stop-sign. Borrowers still feel comfortable they will be able to pay off their home loans and while many people concede it might take a bit longer to get there, there is still a degree of optimism around achieving long-term financial goals.
This deep dive into how attitudes around financial security are shifting enables us to better understand the important role our bank can play in helping you, our customers, achieve your financial goals.
What happens ‘After’? We look forward to helping you find out and being part of the journey.
Megan Keleher,
Chief Customer Officer, Great Southern Bank
Homeowners confident in reaching financial goals
Setting a financial goal can help you feel in control. So, how many Australians feel confident in achieving them?
Our research shows that reaching your financial goals can be influenced by your homeownership status. Homeowners we surveyed felt more confident in achieving short-term goals, such as saving for a new phone or going on a holiday, compared to renters, with an average score of 6.1 out of 10, compared to just 4.9 for renters and 4.0 for long-term renters.
Confidence was higher when it came to achieving long-term goals, like paying off a home or a comfortable retirement. But the disconnect between homeowners (average 6.6) and renters (average 5.5) remained.
Age also influenced confidence, as our Happily Clever After Sentiment Tracker shows.
From offering competitive savings accounts or sharing money saving tips, we want to help all Australians achieve their financial goals – no matter the size of the goal or their financial situation.
* Generation Z were born 1995-2009; Millennials were born 1980-1994; Generation X were born 1965-1979; Baby Boomers were born 1946-1964.
Read our media release to learn more.
Homeowners = 6.6 average
- Renters = 5.5
- No loan (own outright) = 6.9
A positive outlook in a cost-of-living challenge
While cost-of-living pressures have prompted many Australians to reassess their goals, the signs are that many remain confident of achieving their financial goals – they may just take a little longer to get there.
The majority of Australians we surveyed (62 per cent) feel their financial security is about the same or better than two years ago. Gen Z are particularly upbeat, with 42 per cent saying they are better off financially.
Our research found one in three people are very confident they are on track to reach their long-term goals despite the economic climate, although many are re-evaluating the timeframes for their goals, saying their financial plans have been set back by 12 months or more.
But homeowners aren’t slowing down in their efforts to own their home outright. Our study shows that 90 per cent of homeowners remain confident about being able to pay off their loan.
A positive outlook makes a huge difference in laying out a financial plan – but we know this can be tough with today’s cost-of-living challenges.
Building a budget, either on your own or with our budget calculator, can help give you a snapshot of your finances to inform your financial goals. If you want to know how much you need to save, and how often, in order to reach your goal, our savings calculator can map it all out for you.
What does financial security look like?
Like with a lot of things in life, our understanding of financial stability and security varies from person to person.
In our study, homeowners indicated that owning a property outright is the top factor in achieving financial security. This group also ranked goals like retiring with a comfortable income (15 per cent) and being debt free (15 per cent) almost as high when it comes to financial security.
For renters, however, it’s a different story. Renters were more likely to rank more immediate needs as most important to financial security, like food and bills (16 per cent), and access to stable housing (14 per cent). The stark difference provides some insight into how cost-of-living pressures are affecting homeowners and renters in different ways, particularly when it comes to feeling financially secure.
At Great Southern Bank, we want to support all Australians to achieve financially security, whatever it means to you personally. That’s why we’ve got a range of clever calculators to help you ace your money management and achieve your financial goals.
Case study: Rhiannon & Alex, QLD
“Getting onto the property ladder was our key to greater financial security.”
Great Southern Bank customers Rhiannon Ellis and Alex Mould, both 28, spent years just making enough to pay the bills. Their dream of getting off the rental rollercoaster and owning their own home came true earlier this year.
“We’re in control now. We have the freedom to do what we want to our home without permission,” Rhiannon said.
Originally from Brisbane, the couple chose a two-storey Queenslander on a large block of land in the Southern Downs.
“We had always wanted to move out west where we could live a quieter life. Our money goes so much further out here,” Alex said.
When asked about their long-term financial goals, both Rhiannon and Alex said they’d love to be debt free and enjoy retirement.
“Each week we come closer to paying off our own home, not someone else’s,” Alex said.
Side hustle or time to rent out the spare room?
Earning extra cash to pay off a home loan is becoming the norm for many Australians. In fact, our study shows that two in three homeowners are considering ways to earn additional income to help pay off their home loan and even get ahead as cost-of-living pressure persists.
While 35 per cent of homeowners are thinking about starting a side hustle or making money from their hobby, this isn’t the only strategy homeowners are considering to earn extra cash. Some are contemplating a second job (18 per cent), while others are expecting to receive a family inheritance in the future (15 per cent) or hoping to access their super (10 per cent).
From a generational standpoint, Millennials* are most likely to being planning on starting a side hustle (40 per cent) or establishing their own business (11 per cent), in addition to their current 9 to 5 job.
If you’re thinking about ways to get ahead, we’ve got a range of tools to help you pay off your home loan faster and smarter, regardless of how many streams of income you have. For example, The Boost is a clever feature designed to help you pay off your home loan faster whenever you make a purchase with your Great Southern Bank Visa Debit card. Being clever with your home loan repayments? That’s what we like to see!
A forever home for parents and children?
Parents are more than happy to lend a helping hand to their adult children in many instances.
In fact, around 39 per cent of Baby Boomer parents and 28 per cent of Gen X parents who have children living with them now say they’re happy for them to live at home forever, according to our report. It’s an interesting insight, with about seven per cent of the Australians we surveyed saying they have either moved back in with their parents or their adult children have moved back in with them in the past two years.
Knowing that they’re helping their children follow in their footsteps towards homeownership is important for many homeowners. In addition to providing subsidised accommodation, some parents are already thinking ahead to how they will help their own children get started on the property ladder. Our study found one in 10 homeowners will consider downsizing their home in the future to help their children with a deposit.
At Great Southern Bank, we want to support all Australians to get on the property ladder – whatever that looks like for them. Whether it’s sharing tips to save for a home deposit or understanding the government grants and schemes on offer, we’ll be with you (or your child) every step of the way.
A home forever, or a home for right now?
More than a quarter of the 2000 people we surveyed have moved home in the past two years (28 per cent), which begs the question of why?
With rents and interest rates both rising during this time, it is not surprising that one of the biggest drivers for moving home was affordability. Almost one in three people who’d moved house in the past two years indicated this was a factor in why they uprooted and settled down elsewhere.
Long-term renters were the most likely group to have moved house as a result of cost-of-living or housing affordability (41 per cent), while just over one in five renters (13 per cent) were forced to move when their landlord either sold their home or decided to move back in.
When it comes to how long Australians intend on living in their homes, there’s no one-size-fits-all length of time. Our report found around one in five plan to stay in their home for three to five years, while a similar number plan on living in their home for more than 10 years. However, what is clear is that homeownership brings greater stability and control over your housing, with renters three times more likely to be planning to move in the next two years. While the current economic climate might make the initial steps towards home ownership more challenging, it’s still an important goal for many Australians.
No matter how long you plan on staying in your home, or whether your next move is for lifestyle, space or something else, we can help you get there.
Other reports in the series
8 minutes
How clever do Australians feel about money (April 2024)
9 minutes
Happiness & housing (November 2023)
Investigating how home ownership connects to happiness.
For more information
For inquiries, interview requests or for permission to cite the research, please contact:
Laurel Lee Blain
Senior Manager, External Communications
Michael O’Toole
Manager, Corporate Communications
Important Information
The Great Southern Bank No Place Like Home Report is a 3-part series, with online surveys conducted in three waves across the year. The research was conducted by The Clever Stuff , in partnership with Pure Profile , surveying 2,002 Australians aged 18-65 who are nationally representative of the Australian population by age, gender and location. The survey was conducted from 24 May to 5 June 2024.