You no doubt have been brought up believing that owning your own home is the ‘Australian thing to do”. Renting is just throwing away money and you need to buy your own home so you’ll be able to retire. So the usual steps goes something like this:

1 – Save up a deposit (with or without assistance).

2 – Purchase your PPOR (Principal Place of Residence).

3 – After you have built up equity in that home you consider either renting it out and purchasing a new PPOR, or you look at buying an investment property.

But is this the smartest move?

If you purchase your PPOR first, it can weaken your long-term financial position, because you have an increase in cost of living. It is highly likely it will cost you more to own your own home than to rent. Not just because of your mortgage, but through maintenance…