A Melbourne property mogul says the dream of owning your own home is still possible – so long as members of Generation Y can cut back on unnecessary spending and poor lifestyle choices.

Tim Gurner, 35, who has almost half a billion dollars to his name, told 60 Minutes that people wanting to get into the Australian property market simply need to reel in their unrealistic expectations and start saving.

“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn't buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” he said.

“We're at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high.

“They want to eat out every day, they want travel to Europe every year.

“The people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it (and) saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property investment ladder.”

The youngest new entrant on Business Review Weekly’s 2016 Rich List, Mr Gurner cited reality TV as one cause behind Generation Y’s unrealistic perceptions of how life should be.

“This generation is watching the Kardashians and thinking that's normal – thinking owning a Bentley is normal,” he said.

But Jo Lennan, a lawyer, writer and Oxford scholar, disagrees.

“It’s never been harder for young and ordinary people to make a start,” she told 60 Minutes.

“There’s no point pointing the finger at those people and say(ing), ‘You haven’t worked hard enough’, or ‘You haven’t tried hard enough’.

“If you’re looking at $1.5 million for a house in an outer Sydney suburb – a pretty ordinary house – then something is seriously wrong with the housing market.

“The dice are not evenly loaded. They are loaded in the favour of investors.”

Mr Gurner said that as housing prices continue to skyrocket across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, buyers need to be “realistic” and consider investing in Perth or Darwin instead.

He added that property buyers may also need to look at purchasing an investment first with the support of parents or friends as co-owners.

“You've got to get your foot in the door and you've got to slowly get up the ladder,” Mr Gurner said.

Mr Gurner began his career as a property investor after purchasing a gym in Melbourne’s south in 2001 with the help of $34,000 borrowed from his grandfather.