A 79-year-old Baby Boomer has sparked a debate over home ownership after telling young Australians they may need to give up nightlife and other luxuries if they want to buy property.
Canberra retiree Anne Meade offered the blunt assessment as Australian borrowers brace for another possible interest-rate increase, a move that could make entering the housing market even more difficult.
The former Commonwealth public servant said her generation managed to pay off their homes by saving carefully and doing so without financial assistance from their parents.
‘If you couldn’t afford something, you simply didn’t buy it and then spend years paying it off with enormous interest. You waited until you had the money,’ she told The Senior.
‘You didn’t go out clubbing or spend money on that sort of thing.’
Her remarks come as the Reserve Bank of Australia is widely expected to raise the cash rate for the fifth time in 2026 on Tuesday, potentially lifting it to 4.85 per cent — its highest point in 18 years.
The anticipated rate rise follows seven straight months of falling Australian property prices, adding to uncertainty for both buyers and homeowners.
When Ms Meade purchased her unit in 1989 on what she described as a modest income, interest rates were heading towards a record 17.5 per cent.
Retiree Anne Meade, 79, believes young Australians may be able to buy property by taking a more disciplined approach to spending
She urged young Australians to reconsider luxuries such as clubbing. Pictured: Two young Australians at a music festival
The cash rate is expected to rise for the fifth time this year on Tuesday
Ms Meade said the lessons she learned from her parents encouraged her to live within her means and cut back on spending that was not essential.
‘I was brought up to be careful with money — not necessarily frugal, but careful,’ she said.
She also acknowledged that she had not faced the cost of raising children, which made managing her finances easier.
However, leading real estate agent Tom Panos said Baby Boomers who compare today’s borrowers with Australians who endured interest rates of 17.5 per cent in the early 1990s often overlook the enormous size of modern mortgages.
Although borrowers in the early 1990s faced punishing interest rates, Mr Panos said mortgage repayments now take up a much larger portion of household income. Families are also dealing with sharply rising costs for everyday essentials.
‘Someone said to me yesterday, “Tom, we had 17.5 per cent interest rates — what are these people complaining about?”‘ he said.
‘I was in that market. I remember exactly what it was like.
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‘I was starting out in real estate and saw forced sales, mortgagee sales, desperate phone calls, pressure on families and businesses closing. It was brutal.
‘But I can also tell you what families are carrying today, and it is harder than many people realise.
Mr Panos said today’s borrowers are carrying much larger mortgage balances relative to household income than buyers did in the early 1990s
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‘Paying 4.6 per cent on a massive mortgage is more painful.’
Mr Panos argued that the central issue is not just the interest rate, but how much of a household’s income is consumed by mortgage repayments.
Property was considerably cheaper compared with incomes in the early 1990s, meaning buyers took on much smaller debts even when interest rates were dramatically higher.
In 1990, for example, Sydney’s median house price was approximately $187,000. With a 20 per cent deposit, a buyer would have borrowed about $150,000. At interest rates near 17 per cent, the annual interest bill would have been roughly $25,000.
Today, Sydney’s median house price is around $1.7 million. An 80 per cent loan would amount to approximately $1.36 million. At a mortgage rate of about 6.4 per cent, interest alone would total close to $87,000 a year — illustrating how much larger loans can create severe financial pressure even when rates are lower.
‘The debt burden was smaller. The average family home was not carrying a mortgage worth eight or nine times household income,’ he said.
Australian households owed the equivalent of 178 per cent of their annual disposable income in June 2026, placing household debt among its highest levels since records began in 1977.
Mr Panos said mortgage holders were also being squeezed by the rising cost of petrol, groceries, electricity, school fees and other necessities.
‘There is no room to breathe. Unlike the sharp but relatively defined crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, households today have been under this pressure for years,’ he said.
‘Yesterday brought another tightening of the screws. The RBA says it is fighting inflation, and fair enough — inflation hurts everyone. But the cost is falling on mortgage holders, small-business owners and young Australians.
‘People with cash benefit from higher interest, while people carrying debt are being hit hard.
‘This is not about deciding which generation had it worse. It is about recognising the reality facing people today. Mortgages are vastly larger, and that is why the financial pain is so much deeper.’
