Earlier this week, Bernard Salt made headlines by claiming the money people under 40 spend on smashed avocado with crumbled feta five-grain toast could be used to save a deposit for a house.
The claim has incensed many Millennials and spurred counter-claims that years worth sacrificing their brunch wouldn’t bring them close to the amount needed for a deposit thanks to the housing affordability crisis.
We crunched the numbers for each state and found based on Salt’s nominated price in The Weekend Australian – $22 a pop – it would take more than a decade of giving up daily brunches to save for the median deposit just about everywhere. And that’s a daily brunch.
| Location | Median house price | Deposit size (20%) | # smashed avo toast | Years without daily brunch | |
| Sydney | $825,000 | 165,000 | 7500 | 20.5 | |
| Melbourne | $580,000 | 116000 | 5273 | 14.4 | |
| Brisbane | $485,000 | 97000 | 4409 | 12 | |
| Adelaide | $435,000 | 87000 | 3954 | 10.8 | |
| Perth | $520,000 | 104000 | 4727 | 13 | |
| Hobart | $356,500 | 71300 | 3240 | 8.9 | |
| Darwin | $570,000 | 114000 | 5181 | 14 | |
| Canberra | $586,300 | 117260 | 5330 | 14.6 | |
Sources: ratecity.com.au, ABS Residential Property Price Indexes, March house prices (June 2016), Bernard Salt.
