Todd Reynolds says chasing that elusive first home purchase "was like a frenzy".
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"Every time there would be a house (with a price guide) between this amount and this amount," the 29-year-old said.
"We would put in an offer between those amounts, and all of a sudden that would be blown out past the amount that was listed.
"Everywhere we went they'd be snapped up, and higher than the asking price."
The federal government has launched the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, to assist people in entering the housing market for the first time by underwriting home loans for first home buyers.
The new government scheme for first time buyers allows approved applicants to take out a mortgage with just a five per cent deposit.
Although his family didn't use it, Mr Reynolds said the scheme has positives and negatives.
"It's a positive because it will draw people in (to the market), because they think they can afford it," he said.
"But because it's only five per cent they're borrowing so much. They're borrowing 95 per cent... Their repayments are going to be so much higher. People need to make sure they don't bite off more than they can chew."
While there has been plenty of commentary about young Australians being disillusioned with the market, many still dream of owning their own home, according to research commissioned by developer Lendlease.
The survey of 1005 Australians aged 18-40 revealed eight in ten dream of owning their own home, with 47 per cent believing they will be in their own home within the next five years.
When trying to buy an existing built home, Mr Reynolds and his partner would find that the only properties they could afford needed costly renovations.
"It just wasn't worth it to us, because it was $600,000 for a house, and then we looked at it we'd see it needed probably 20 to 30 grand worth of work."
Therefore, they opted to build their own home.
Sales representative Mr Reynolds and his partner bought a 512sqm block in Lendlease's Bingara Gorge Estate, Wilton in November.
In order to secure the deposit, he saved for five years by cutting right down on luxury expenses and socialising.
"I'm still living with my parents, I've got an eight-week old son... We've just been knuckling down and saving," he said.
Mr Reynolds and family's land registers in March, with home construction likely to start in late 2020.
In the meantime, Mr Reynolds said he and his partner planned to continue living with family in order to save additional money.
"Although we've got the money to build the house, we still need to fit out with furniture and all the rest," he said.