While first-home buyers may have a wide selection of mortgage products to choose from, finding the right product is cited as the second most stressful part of buying a first home, according to the latest Homebuyer Barometer from non-bank lender homeloans.com.au.

“Navigating the maze of mortgages is obviously overwhelming for many first-home buyers, with more than one in five Homebuyer Barometer respondents across the country citing that as the greatest stress in buying a home,” said Will Keall, a spokesperson for homeloans.com.au.

Respondents from Queensland found finding a suitable mortgage more stressful than respondents from other states. “For those in Queensland, the largest stress – finding the right property – only just pips finding the right mortgage at the post (28 per cent vs 25 per cent).”

“It really shows how important it is to do your research and have an understanding of the nuts and bolts of a loan - not just the interest rate on offer,” Keall said. “If you’re considering a particular home loan, ask for a key facts sheet, which will enable you to compare and select the best loan for you.”

For the majority of respondents, finding the right property is the most stressful part of buying a first home (38%), while saving for a deposit came in third (less than a fifth).

Paying down debt and saving for a deposit

Meanwhile, nearly two thirds of respondents with other debts choose to pay this off first while saving for a deposit before entering the property market. Not surprisingly, those in New South Wales were the most likely to have other debts to repay (43%), while those living in Victoria and Western Australia were least likely to have other debts to repay (about one third).

“Worryingly, it’s the Millennials who had the greatest debt to pay - over $10,000 - while saving for a deposit, while those aged between 45 and 64 had the smallest debt, with 90 per cent of those in that age range needing to pay off less than $5,000,” Keall said.

Overall, it took between one and five years for more than half of respondents to save for a deposit, with those in WA proving to be the better savers (almost a third were able to save for a deposit in under a year). This was more of a struggle in NSW, where nearly a quarter of respondents took more than five years to save.
 

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