Why buying your first home feels impossible (and what to do instead) with Lucinda Hartley
episodePreviously titled “First home buyers: the old property rulebook is broken” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Are you a first home buyer struggling to get into the market? What if the problem isn't you? It's the rule book that you've been following. Today's guest is helping us unpack why the way that your parents bought their first home might not be the way that you can approach it. Stay tuned for this episode.
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Today, I'm joined by Lucinda Hartley and we are going through how to get in the market, get into your first home, what trade-offs and different considerations that you need to be thinking about, how this landscape's changed from when your parents bought their first house all or other people that you're hearing stories about, they're already in the market. We want to unpack what things that you need to be looking at, what you can consider, and how you can really start finding home. So Lucinda is the author of the book, Finding Home, that is out now. Lucinda, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for having me, Gemma. Very excited to get into this. As we were talking about before we hit record, this is going to hit home, pun intended, for so many of our listeners.
This is something that lots of people are struggling with.
Buying your first home or even thinking about getting to the market is such an overwhelming decision.
Yeah. And I feel like it's getting further and further away for a lot of people.
So the fact that it financially is getting further away makes everything more complex. So if you look at the past 20 years, house growth has outpaced wage growth by two times. So the longer you wait, the further behind you get. But it's not only a financial equation. If your home costs 10 to 12 times your income when you're 10 years ago, it costs five to six times your income. The trade-offs that you have to make are so much greater. It's not only that you're spending more money, but you have to factor in so many other considerations as well.
Yes, that trade-off is so important because there's a trade-off in every aspect of our life, right? Anytime we make a decision, whether it's our cash flow, it's our money, it's our health or exercise, whatever, there is a trade-off.
Why is the traditional first home buyer rulebook considered broken?
And I think that's where I'd love to focus a lot on today. And I know I've got your book here and you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see all my notes, my sticky notes from just all the great stuff in there that I wanted to talk about today. So got this, absolutely love it. But yes, you have the trade-off triangle that we'll go through in a little bit, but let's step back and go, let's actually unpack what's changed. Why? Like, so you said the income ratio. So the rule book has changed. So what did it look like 20, 30 years ago, which most of us might have seen that, like our parents modeled that for us. What did the rule book look like and why has it changed so drastically?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:20
2
Why is the traditional first home buyer rulebook considered broken?
3:20–9:51
3
What key changes have occurred in the property market for first home buyers?
9:51–18:48
4
How should first home buyers rethink what 'home' means today?
18:48–27:15
5
What are the critical trade-offs first home buyers must understand?
27:15–46:35
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Australian Finance Podcast
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