Housing affordability will be a key voting issue in the next federal election for young Illawarra house buyers, according to a new survey.
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Meanwhile two-thirds of regional Australians were concerned young people will never be able to buy their own home according to the survey released by the Property Council of Australia.
In total 76 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds said housing affordability policies will be a major factor in their voting decision at the upcoming federal election.
Of those, 25 per cent of respondents in that age bracket indicated it would be one of the most important issues in their voting decision and 51 per cent indicating it would be an important issue in their decision - higher than any other age group.
Across all age groups, 53 per cent of regional respondents indicated housing affordability would be an important consideration in deciding how they vote.
University of Wollongong Law and Engineering student Carlo Teodorowych, 20, said he'll be taking a close look at what all parties have to offer when it comes to housing affordability.
"To be honest it's something that really needs to be considered," he said.
"It's going to impact all of us at some point in our lives and it's pretty hard to get into an already established market as a freshly graduated student."
Mr Teodorowych lives in a share house with other students but keeps close tabs on the housing market, hoping to purchase in Wollongong when he's in full time employment.
"I like to know what I'm in store for - the plan is to be a homeowner eventually. I'd be looking to buy in Wollongong after living down here enjoying this lifestyle, particularly being close to the beaches," he said.
Though he thought his future career path would lead him to a job in Sydney, he had no intention of moving there and understood why so many Sydneysiders had decided to make the move south during the pandemic.
"People are starting to realise how good it is down here," he said, noting that prices in Wollongong's north had been escalating rapidly in recent years.
While Mr Teodorowych believed rents in the Illawarra were still affordable, he said the main issue was getting approved for a rental property in the first place.
With families, working professionals and students all competing for housing stock, he'd had friends "apply for 15 houses and [been] rejected for all of them".
It's not just the young who are concerned about house prices.
The survey found that housing affordability would be an issue for 53 per cent of regional respondents across all age brackets on election day.
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