Your Domain: Co-host Chris Kohler talks home ownership, the market and smashed avocado

Almost three years ago, smashed avocado and home ownership became inextricably linked.

A piece in The Australian by columnist Bernard Salt, in which he suggested young people could better save for a deposit if they stopped buying smashed avocado on toast for breakfast, kicked off a national debate around housing affordability, and the smashed avocado meme persists today.

For Chris Kohler, co-host of the new Channel Nine show Your Domain, it marked a turning point in his career.

Kohler was then a business reporter for The Australian and the reply he wrote to Salt’s piece catapulted his career into property.

Kohler, who is saving for a deposit for his first home, argued that not all millennials were financially irresponsible but rising prices made it increasingly harder for people to take that first step on the property ladder.

In 2017, Kohler was appointed business editor at Domain, and later presented on Your Money and Sky News. His new role will be a homecoming of sorts.

Your Domain  premieres on Nine this Saturday at 10am. Kohler will co-host the program with Shelley Craft and will also join Nine News, reporting on property and business news.

“Over the past few years, I have been writing and talking about things from a hopeful first-home buyer’s perspective, but that won’t be all I am doing in this new show,” Kohler said this week ahead of the premiere.

On the show, he hopes to make complex property topics relatable to those embarking on their respective journeys.

“Traditionally, my role as a journalist has been to look at the numbers side of things that do filter through the property market and have an impact on hip pockets – except the problem with all those factors is people often talk about it in another language,” he said.

“People just so often struggle to communicate those big-picture factors like interest rates or basically anything to do with clearance rates or the property market in a way that really lands for people.

“I really hope to be able to be someone who can talk about those things in a clear and concise way.”

Kohler promises the show will have a light touch.

“It’s a conversation-driven show, and it will be very Saturday morning, if you like. We’re aware of the fact that people are rushing around, they have kids to drop off at sports or are on the way to a barbecue so it’s absolutely not going to be very dense,” he said.

“It’s a good time to be bringing on a new show like this because of what’s happening in the market right now. We have these clearance rates that are incredibly high and buyers seem to be very keen.

“The missing piece of the puzzle has been listings – are we going to see them? That’s the big question right now.”

Kohler and his wife hope to make his first step on the property ladder soon.

“I dream I’ll be able to own a home sometime soon,” he said.

“We’re certainly excited to take the next step and we’re looking for something we can do up a little bit. We’re not afraid to get in and get our hands dirty – watching Shelley all those years on The Block inspired us.

“We’re in the process like so many first-home buyers are of trying to build our deposit and trying to find houses we like, and keeping an eye on listings on Domain, of course.”

Your Domain airs Saturdays at 10am on Nine.