Millennials would have a better shot at becoming homeowners if they stopped buying avocado on toast, according to an Australian millionaire.
Tim Gurner, a 35-year-old Australian property mogul, made the controversial claims on Monday in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia.
Gurner claimed that millennial lifestyle habits, such as eating out regularly, were hampering their chances of getting on the property ladder.
“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 [£11] and four coffees at $4 [£2.30] each,” Gurner said on the show. “We’re at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high.”
“The people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it,” he said, adding that if they “saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property investment ladder.”
Many have kicked off about his comments, arguing he was given financial help to buy his first home. Gurner he has since denied these claims in an interview with news.com.au, explaining it was “actually incorrect” he had help to get into the property market.
However, many are still pointing out that the few quid saved from not buying brunch would hardly add up to the thousands needed for a deposit.
After all, the average deposit for a first time house in London is around £90,000, while an avocado on toast dish will set you back around £10. That’s a lot of green spread.
With soaring property prices, many millennials are relying on financial help from their parents to buy their first homes.
Earlier this month it was reported that the “bank of mum and dad” would lend more than £6.5 billion this year to help their children get on the property ladder.
According to research from Legal & General and Cebr, millennials will be the biggest recipients of the cash, with 79% of the money going to people under 30.
Gurner isn’t the first to claim brunch is stopping young people from buying homes. Last year, demographer Bernald Salt wrote in the Australian that if millennials stopped going to “hipster cafes” they might have a shot at buying a home.
He wrote: “I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn’t they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.”
But even preparing brunch with avocados could prove pricey, as costs continue to rise, which is why Morissons has just launched a “wonky avocados” range with prices at just 39p per fruit.
Of course, making your avocado at home could come with an even bigger risk.
A recent safety warning has been issued following a rise in avocado hand cutting risk. There has been a rise in cases involving serious nerve and tendon injuries, leaving patients in need of surgery.
Some Twitter users can’t believe how the millennial staple got in the bad books so quickly.
We’ll always love you, avocado.
