25-year-old Alexandra Graziotto can finally call herself a homeowner after 5 years of property hunting. Her decision to engage buyers agent Lauren Jones culminated in her securing a gorgeous block in Kallangur on Brisbane’s northside.
Originally published on Realestate.com.au on September 7th, 2024, then republished in the Courier Mail and on News.com.au.
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Alternatively, here is an excerpt from News.com.au:
Brisbane nurse Alexandra Graziotto didn’t intend to buy so far from the city, but after a challenging five-year search, the 25-year-old says the daily commute is a small price to pay for owning her own home.
Despite establishing a savings habit early on and receiving help from her parents towards a deposit, rising prices pushed Ms Graziotto to search further and further from the CBD as properties slipped out of reach.
“I’ve wanted to buy a house since I was 18, but I watched as prices slowly climbed to levels where I could no longer afford to buy where I wanted, so I had to wait again,” she said.
“After five years I was just looking for a house anywhere I could afford, getting further and further away from the city.”
Ms Graziotto faced rising property prices and strong competition. Picture: Liam Kidston
Ms Graziotto finally secured a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on a 420 sqm block in Kallangur, a northern Brisbane suburb where prices were up by a blistering 13 per cent over the past year, according to PropTrack data.
It is about an hour’s commute from her CBD workplace, but Ms Graziotto is relieved to put the stress of home-hunting behind her.
“It is worth the sacrifice,” she said.
Investors and first-home buyers are competing for the most affordable housing stock
The first-home buyer engaged buyer’s agent Lauren Jones after finding it impossible to compete with investors making offers too good for sellers to resist.
“Things were selling so quickly that I spent a solid year of constantly putting in offers for properties and getting rejected.
“People from interstate and overseas were putting in high offers with really short conditions, without even inspecting the houses.”
Buyers agent Lauren Jones
Ms Jones said competition for homes priced around $700,000 had intensified, with first-home buyers wanting to purchase under this threshold to take advantage of government schemes including stamp duty exemption and the First Home Guarantee.
“There just isn’t much supply of good property at that price, so you are either looking at a two-bedroom unit closer in, or homes on smaller blocks of dirt further out — 35, 40km from the city.”
She said Ms Graziotto was up against offers from four others, all represented by buyer’s agents, for the Kallangur home she purchased.