A recent survey conducted for LJ Hooker Finance, included the opinions of 1017 people and found among those intending to buy a property in the next two years, 78 per cent were aged 20 to 30, or in generation Y.

Thirty per cent of 20 to 30-year-olds believe that property is still a strong investment while more than half of the survey respondents said that they would look to put some funds aside towards a home deposit over the coming year.

Only eight per cent said they would spend spare cash on shopping or holidays.

Generation Y often have the reputation of wasting money and having no long term commitment mindset – their desire to get into property investment and lack of fear of home loans certainly contradicts this..

First home buyers believe that saving for a deposit is one of the most significant barriers to home ownership.

“In the greater Sydney region, where the median property price is around $550,000, it’s not surprising that affordability is one of the biggest hurdles,” Mr Hooker said.

“But many would-be buyers don’t have a clear idea of their financial position or strategy.”

The report, to be released today, shows the number of 85-year-olds will increase five-fold by 2020 and 50,000 Australians will turn 100 by 2050.

Despite having no home loans, many seniors are reluctant to sell up their large family home and move to smaller accommodation, because of stamp duty costs.

The report notes government regulations favour the development of large, detached houses at the edge of towns and cities.

But it says easy-to-maintain housing in established neighbourhoods is crucial for an ageing population.

“There needs to be a greater acceptance that higher densities are part of the solution to improving housing affordability,” it says.

It seems that the lender’s valuers are concerned for their liability to the banks if they did not get valuations right, so they choose to err on the side of caution.

But leading valuer Iain Herriot has dismissed those claims.

He does not think it is as widespread as some agents are claiming and said the variance in valuations was often because owners and buyers don’t have full knowledge of the market.

It is very rare for a property purchased at an Auction to be under-valued given that the value is established at the auction. It is more likely to occur in a ‘private sale’ situation.

Properties are valued on the basis of other recent sales evidence.

Lower valuations can be a problem for off-the-plan sales where people had bought sometime ago when values were at a better level and now they were not worth as much when it came time to settle.

A recent property valuation for example on the southside of Brisbane which had been sold at $650,000 but was valued at $575,000.

Diana Howes of Resolution Research said valuers were definitely taking a very risk-averse approach and some were relying on irrelevant historical data to value new properties.

“I know of one unit, valued by two different firms which came in $80,000 apart,” she said.

Over the 10 months to end October 2011, Australian property values in capital cities have declined by 2.8 per cent on a raw basis and by 4.0 per cent seasonally-adjusted. This is very much an average and many homes in the more expensive inner city suburbs have dropped as much as 25% off their valuations only a year earlier.

At the same tome the cost of home loans is declining to below-average levels while disposable household incomes are increasing. This makes homes much more affordable than they have been for quite some time.

Across the capital cities there remains considerable deviation in residential property value movements.

Sydney and Canberra have been most resilient with dwelling values off just 1.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent from their peaks.

In the month of October, Sydney and Canberra homes both produced flat to positive capital growth, while the other capitals posted declines ranging from 0.6 per cent in Melbourne to 1.6 per cent in Brisbane.

The combination of cheaper home loans as well as cheaper housing and higher incomes is making now a great time to buy a property.

The number of home loans approved in September rose 2.2 per cent to almost 51,821 – but there are signs buyers are borrowing less and putting more of their own money into property purchases.

Despite the increase, Australian market for new homes is still in decline with buyers preferring to purchase existing properties at a fraction of their prices months earlier.

In Melbourne prices of established housing fell an average of almost 3 per cent — or $16,000 — in the three months to September.

Buyers have shown reluctance to borrow heavily, with the value of total home loans held increasing by only 1 per cent in September, seasonally adjusted, to $21.1 billion.

The number of home loans approved climbed at double the rate.

The figures were released as Westpac and the Melbourne Institute published their monthly consumer confidence index, showing that confidence has improved for the third consecutive month.

Much of the lending rise was coming from NSW and could partly reflect the changes to stamp duty concessions there.

The Westpac/Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment climbed 6.3 per cent in November to 103.4 index points.

This is the first time in six months that the proportion of optimists exceeded that of pessimists.

NSW based First Home Buyers will find that from January 1, properties they buy may cost them up to $17,990 more,  following the NSW State Government’s decision to scrap stamp duty concessions.

Home ownership has been an unattainable goal for many who have seen property prices go from height to height over the past decade. During 2011, prices have began to slowly decline, making first home buyers consider returning top the market.

“FHBs no longer have a chance to buy a house in more than 100 suburbs across Sydney, which now have a median price above $1 million,” he said.

He said many potentially face a lifetime of living in apartments, however that window of opportunity is quickly diminishing as their prices continue to rise as well.

Removal of the First Home Buyer Concession means that purchasing their own home will once again be something of an unattainable dream for many.

But Mr Symond said it was not too late for FHBs to act now and find themselves a property that is within their financial grasp.

The bank’s executive general manager retail products Michael Cant said CBA’s “home loan guarantee” will be in place until the end of September to all new customers who borrow a minimum of $100,000 as well as existing customers who take out new borrowings of $100,000 or more.

Mr Cant said competition between the majors has reached levels never seen previously. CBA will consequently offer its borrowers the bank’s home loan guarantee that they will not be beaten by other lenders.

“Our interest rates are already amongst the lowest in market, and our guarantee to beat our major competitors, means we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” he said.

“Buying a home is already a complicated and involved process, and we believe finding the best interest rate shouldn’t add to that.”

Throughout the traditional spring home buying season, Commonwealth Bank will also be talking directly to customers to share with them tips on how to save money and reduce the term of their home loans.

CBA is looking to position itself as the home buyers bank, offering purchasers great home loans as well as money saving tips and general advise.

Housing Industry Association figures released yesterday show the total number of new homes sold across Australia in July dropped by 8 per cent to 6428 – the lowest level since January 2000.

The new property market overall had contracted 8.7 per cent in June, and has over the past two months gone through the most significant slide since mid 2006. New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia suffered the biggest falls.

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said the construction industry is bleeding and requires urgent attention. Government needs to consider introducing additional concessions for First Home Buyers to stimulate demand or there will be dire consequences across the economy overall.

“We can expect further weakness over the coming months, but Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens’ indication that rates will stay on hold should help the sector,” Mr Dale said.

“But more is needed to kick-start the economy.”

The worst performing state was WA, where new detached house sales fell 12.7 per cent to a 10-year low.

One strategy the government should consider is additional subsidies to encourage people to invest in new properties.

Unless this is done, we have not seen the worst and repercussions will be felt across all economic sectors in Australia.

The HIA Commonwealth Bank Housing Affordability Index,has shown an improvement of 0.8 per cent in the June 2011 quarter.

This effectively makes housing in Australia more affordable today by  7.2 per cent above the recorded affordability level of June 2010 .

The level of individual income has increased while the interest rates for home loans have dropped as did property prices. This has to improve housing affordability over the June 2011 quarter.

Unfortunately it has taken a world economic disaster for Australia’s First Home Buyers to have a better chance at home ownership.

Housing affordability in the June 2011 quarter improved in Australia’s capital cities with the exception of Brisbane. Sydney improved by 2.0 per cent, Melbourne by 1.9 per cent, Adelaide by 0.2 per cent, Perth by 3.2 per cent, Hobart by 1.5 per cent, and Canberra by 1.0 per cent.

According to Bankwest’s Financial Indicator Series – the third annual “First Time Buyer Deposit Report”, it is taking home buyers much longer to get into the property market than ever before.

Five years ago, it took first home buyers an average of 3.8 years to save a deposit to qualify for a home loan.

Bankwest senior analyst Tim Crawford said the rising cost of living, tighter lending criteria and higher property prices were stopping first home buyers from entering the property market sooner.

During the 2010/2011 financial year there were 90,210 first home buyers across Australia which is 35 per cent lower than the previous year and represents a seven year low,” he said. Today’s first home buyer grant for purchases of existing properties often does not even cover the costs of stamp duties. Borrowers need to have at the minimum a 5% deposit, and as much as 20% is they have some history of bad credit or do not wish to pay for Mortgage Insurance.

Based on a 20 per cent deposit for the median national house price ($437,500), first home buyers across Australia would need to save an average of $80,500, compared to $62,100 in mid-2006. Across capital cities, first time buyers have to save an average of $93,313, which is $24,613 more than five years ago.

First time buyers saving 20 per cent of their annual income in Sydney have to save for the longest period of time (5.7 years) followed by Melbourne (5.4 years), whilst those living in Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart don’t have to save for quite as long.

In Perth, Canberra and Darwin it would take a first time buyer 4.2 years to save a deposit.