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20th August 2024
11:29am BST
My life at 30 is very different to the life my parents were living at 30.
In the early 90s, it was far easier to buy a house in Ireland, but in 2024, it feels like an impossible dream.
A lot of my older relatives have been mentioning, harmlessly mostly, how they owned houses when they were my age. I've just turned 30 and noticed an increase in people comparing my lifestyle to theirs, but it's an unfair comparison.
Trying to buy a house in Ireland nowadays seems like something only accessible to those who have won the lottery. House prices are increasing at lightning speed, but our salaries remain the same.
The cost of living crisis is putting a dent in our savings but we're all still desperately trying to put some money away 'for the future'.
I'm trying to save what I can but part of me has now accepted that I'll likely never own a house in Ireland, and part of me is okay with it.
I'm lucky to be living at home with a family I adore and at a price far lower than normal Dublin rents.
As much as I'd love to own my own home one day, I've started to realise, as I get older, that it may just remain a dream.
The housing crisis, the impossible deposit we need to save, and stagnant income don't make things easy for people in their thirties, but there's something refreshing about letting go of this hope and dream.
I've often beat myself up over not owning a house but it isn't the be-all and end-all. It doesn't define who I am or make me less of a person.
The housing crisis is not my problem to fix so I'm letting go of the pressure to buy my own home.
We remain hopeful that things may change in Ireland when it comes to housing, but nobody can predict what will happen in the future.
For now, I've accepted that owning a house isn't going to happen for me, but that doesn't make me worth less. It's just the reality of living in Ireland in your thirties.
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