A common criticism made of Millennials is that we are people pleasers. We start sentences with an apology, work on days off, and convert older colleagues’ documents into PDFs even though the process remains unchanged from the previous seven times we showed them how to do it.

Credit: Reg Lynch

We would like to think we are collectively minded, and care about such issues as having a planet that is inhabitable in 50 years’ time or, at a minimum, one that does not resemble the planet where Obi-Wan fought Anakin in Revenge of the Sith (sorry, we Millennials had to watch those Star Wars movies). But we may have reached our limit.

Housing stress is typically defined as when a lower-income household spends more than 30 per cent of its gross income on housing costs. A more liberal definition might include the cash that renters put aside for an eventual deposit. For context, mortgage payments as a share of all Australian household disposable income have reached a record high of 9.5 per cent.

As a Millennial living in Sydney, you have to laugh. Perhaps we – and other first home buyers – are too stressed to be depressed, but a life with less than 30 per cent of your salary tied up in keeping a roof over your head feels like a fantasy. Housing stress is a way of life in this city. Get on in, the water’s fine (seriously, even Barangaroo is safe for swimming now). For those who saved enough to buy their first home in the past four years, the RBA has become like an over-eager local real estate agent. The first Tuesday of each month it knocks on the door: “Are you looking to sell?”

Yet we are holding on. New buyers had been expected to sell in distress after rolling off fixed rates. Instead, we’re clinging onto the property ladder with the pinky finger on our left hand.

RBA governor Michele Bullock announced an increase to interest rates on Tuesday.Credit: Oscar Colman

Savings accounts are being emptied into loan principals to refinance. Inheritance is being paid out early by parents who are not only still alive but often still in the workforce. Second jobs, lodgers, rented car spaces.

But, no. We haven’t sold the house. We might revert a Boomer’s PDF back to a doc, but return to renting one of their heavily subsidised investment properties we shall not.

And thus, on Tuesday RBA governor Michele Bullock announced the bank’s board would again raise the cash rate by 0.25 per cent. The big four took little time to pass on the increase. Could this bring the fire sales house hunters are waiting for?