It's not just Millennials, I'm a Gen X and don't want to own a home either

It’s come as a big surprise to our family and friends that we no longer want to own a home.

After renovating and selling two homes, we’ve decided that we don’t want to be beholden to a mortgage anymore. Instead, we’ve chosen to rent a home for our family of five.

We’ve now joined a large chunk of Millennials, and Generation Xers, who’ve chosen this path, as house prices continue to surge throughout the country.

Like us, many people are instead choosing to rent, rather than struggling to meet mortgage repayments.

It’s because we simply can’t afford the Australian dream of a white picket fence – that was the wish of our parents’ generation. Skyrocketing property prices have pushed many of us out of the housing market.

The move came after we decided to sell what was to be our “forever home”, situated in inner-city Adelaide. We’d lovingly renovated it over a period of six years and it was in a great school zone.

We’d put all of our money into renovations and each month we worried if we’d make the mortgage repayments.

We were slaves to our bank, so we sold our home.

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Despite making a reasonable amount on the sale of our house, once we’d paid our mortgage off, we weren’t left with enough to buy another house outright.

For us to buy again and not be stuck with another huge mortgage, we’d have to move into a crap house in the outer suburbs and start renovating all over again.

Instead, we’ve invested our cash and rented a home in a new suburb. It’s a little further out than where we previously lived, and a big, old, four-bedroom home, but it’s fabulous.

There’s no way we could buy our house – it’s in a gorgeous area and worth well over a million dollars, and it needs a lot of work.

The first week we moved in the hot water system rusted out completely, the power points in two rooms stopped working and when it rained the lights flickered and water dripped from the ceiling and down the chimney.

And although it’s a bit annoying, it’s also a big relief because we just ring the rental agent and someone comes to fix it at no cost to us.

There’s no council rates, no worrying about when the next thing will break, no arguments with neighbours over fence disputes and, most importantly, no mortgage repayments.

Yes, we pay rent and to some people that’s “dead money”, but how can that be when my husband and I have never felt so alive? We’re now free from the constant stress of renovating and owing the bank hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now, we pay our rent and bills and that’s it. We get to live in a beautiful suburb, in a lovely house, and when we get bored of it, we can move.

Of course, it comes with the uncertainty of where we’ll be next year, and the possibility of not having a nest egg is a little worrying, but we’re taking steps to make sure we put what money we can into an investment account for our future.

Our kids know that regular moves may be on the cards, but they also know that whatever happens we are a family and everything will work out if we’re together.