Young Aussie woman exposes the reality of buying a home without rich parents - and how she has boosted her chances of getting on the property ladder

A young Aussie has spoken out about the reality of buying a home and pursuing her dreams without rich parents.

Diana Laichyk, 26, works as a make-up artist by day to pay her bills and has appeared in TV commercials and on stage.

She is also financially ambitious, despite the hardships of trying to make a living in the entertainment industry where competition for roles is fierce and work is fleeting.

The performer, who aspires to be a full-time TV actor on a soap, is also aiming to one day buy her own apartment in Melbourne .

But she is hesitant about buying in St Kilda, which is home to some of Melbourne's most affordable apartments, due to safety issues.

'Depending on the area of St Kilda, there's some safety issues,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Being a female living on my own, safety's definitely a consideration that I'd have to make.'

Ms Laichyk wants to buy an apartment close to her parents in Sandringham, who she has temporarily moved back in with following a relationship break-up.

While they are helping her with accommodation, she isn't expecting her parents to help her with a mortgage deposit because they have just bought a new apartment and exhausted their savings.

'Even if they wanted to, they couldn't. They don't have any extra lying around,' she said.

To achieve her goal of saving up for a mortgage deposit, she invested $10,000 in a Stockspot account in June 2021.

This portfolio of exchange-traded funds, linked to share market indexes, has since grown to $21,200 based on Laichyk depositing $25 to $340 a fortnight.

'As my jobs changed and my living circumstances changed, the amount that I would invest dropped but I never stopped my fortnightly investment,' she said.

'It was always a priority of mine, even if it was to have just $25, putting something away every fortnight.'

She is hoping to build that portfolio to $40,000 by the time she is in her early thirties so she can have a mortgage deposit.

'Even if it's not 20 per cent, I'd like to purchase younger rather than later depending on how life plays out,' she said.

'The knowledge that I'd be able to put down a decent deposit on a house makes me proud and feel quite secure and quite calm.'

She is hoping to permanently land a role on an Australian TV soap.

'I'm manifesting that one every single day,' she said.

'I do love my day job but definitely, a full-time gig on TV would be the dream but you can't rely on that so, I'm always keeping my options open and I'm always making sure that I'm keeping doors open and not closing them.'

St Kilda is still relatively affordable for someone earning, an average, full-time salary of $100,017, having a median apartment price of $521,328.

A borrower with a 20 per cent deposit could still get a mortgage on an $80,000 salary, with banks unable to lend more than 5.2 times what someone earns.

One-bedroom and studio apartments in this area have recently sold for $315,000, which would be attainable for someone earning $48,462 a year, or only slightly more than the minimum, full-time wage of $47,627.

But Sandringham is harder, having a median unit price of $836,532, requiring a salary of almost $129,000 to get a loan and still be in mortgage stress.