Your Place3 Aug 2026
Why young Victorians buy homes with friends now
by Buxton Marketing
- New data shows a growing openness among young Victorians to co-buying and multigenerational living
- As affordability tightens, buyers are placing greater value on time, lifestyle and flexibility
Written by David Bonaddio and featured in the Herald Sun and realestate.com.au
The first-home buyer dream is changing, with young Victorians increasingly open to buying with friends, family or multiple generations.
Young Victorians are rethinking the solo home ownership dream, with new research showing many would consider buying with friends or family to get into the market.
[Our] State of Living Index, based on a survey of 364 Victorians across 57 local government areas, found 80 per cent of under-35s would consider buying with friends or family.
It also found 57 per cent of Victorians were open to multigenerational living, while 74 per cent said time and lifestyle freedom mattered more than extra space.
The research suggests younger buyers are not just compromising on suburbs, property type or size, but also on the traditional idea of buying a home alone or with a partner.
Buxton Port Phillip director Zoe Cherrie said affordability was forcing younger Victorians to rethink what home ownership looked like.
“I think the Australian dream of owning property may well be evolving in a different way, more for lifestyle than for wealth creation,” Ms Cherrie said. “With rising interest rates, buying capacity and affordability have definitely changed. You can’t tick every box anymore, regardless of your price point or buying history. So it’s more finding something that maybe ticks most of the boxes.”
Ms Cherrie said buying with friends or family was becoming a more realistic conversation for younger buyers who still wanted to enter the property market.
“Probably affordability,” she said. “It takes a village to raise a child, like, stick in the village.”
She said co-buying and multigenerational living had long been more common in European and Eastern cultures, but were becoming more relevant in Victoria as affordability pressures increased.
The survey also found 71 per cent of respondents were considering co-ownership, while 45 per cent were renting either through necessity, choice or as a longer-term strategy.
Ms Cherrie said the past six years had been challenging for the Victorian property market, particularly for younger buyers trying to save while also dealing with higher living costs and changing borrowing conditions.
She said buyers were increasingly looking for homes that suited their lifestyle now, rather than waiting for a perfect long-term property.
“Younger Victorian buyers want renovated homes and ease of transacting,” she said. “They want something that’s done, something they can move into, and something that fits the way they actually live.”
Ms Cherrie said the shift did not mean young Victorians had given up on home ownership, but that the path into the market was changing.
She said buyers were still motivated, but many were having to be more flexible about where they bought, who they bought with and what type of home they accepted.
“It’s not necessarily that people don’t want to buy,” she said. “It’s that the dream looks different now.”
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