Entry costs to home ownership have been rising in Australia since the mid-1950s but home ownership rates had not fallen by the mid-1980s. Drawing from a national life history survey carried out in 1986-87, this paper shows that median ages for first time home buying have been declining among successive cohorts over the post-war era. The paradox of rising entry costs and earlier home buying may be explained by rising labour force participation among women immediately after marriage and awareness of the increasing financial returns from long-term home ownership. Among the later cohorts, early entry to home ownership appears to have been associated particularly strongly with wives' employment after marriage and husbands' incomes. The findings suggest that access to home ownership in the future may be increasingly limited to young adults having high household incomes.