(I'm originally a westie - prices out there scare me too).
Tell me about it! Got lucky to buy a flat in 2005 and since then prices have just become ridiculous. I actually thought prices in 2005 were ridiculous but in hindsight could have bought a house with my deposit then.
Re: the nurse bloke - keeping up with the Joneses in its worst form; the Bondi scene is overrated. Great in your 20s for the hedonistic lifestyle but if you're 30 and still sharehouse renting in Bondi or Coogee with a 6K savings pot, you gotta have a serious look at yourself what you want out of life 10, 20 years down the track.
There won't be too much sympathy for a 40 year old nurse with 12k savings living with 8 people in Bondi who WANTS/DREAMS of buying a $5M house. I don't think that nurse (notwithstanding News Ltd's journalistic standards) will ever want to live west of William Street or even Leichhardt.
My DH works as a cog for NSW Health and we both know a nurse (immigrant) who worked hard, lived at Cabramatta, moved with parents after a divorce, now has an investment propety for her retirement and is doing well. Her three kids have all flown the nest and all graduated with uni degrees, all with jobs but NOT their dream jobs. Her eldest son works as a miner in the central west and his plan is to work there for a few years and return to Sydney. He bought a house jointly a couple of years ago.
You work hard, you save hard, and like that ant in Aesop's fable, you reap the benefits. However, you have to be pragmatic and take a reality check on your dreams, and know what constitutes your own personal happiness - materialistic, intrinsic and otherwise. Alas, wanting to own an Eastern suburbs home is now on par as wanting to be an astronaut and going to the moon.