Australian supermarket runs out of avocados, trolls millennials accordingly

Management at an Australian supermarket has mocked millennial shoppers for their expensive tastes after it ran out of avocados.

IGA Supermarkets displayed the note above an empty section of its fruit shelf at its Bondi store as a nationwide avocado shortage began to bite.

The note, posted on Twitter by Sky News Australia reporter Laura Jayes, read: "Due to major shortages, avocados will not be available until later in the week. On the positive side, this saving should help you with the deposit for a new house. Thank you for your understanding. IGA Management."

The note went down well, with users calling it "gold" and "so funny!"

Other criticised it for being too "smartass".

The alleged lifestyle obsessions of millennials, the social group aged 18 to 35, has often been the butt of jokes.

In November, UK estate agent Strutt & Parker suggested that more first-time buyers could get on the property ladder if they stopped treating themselves to things such as takeaway coffee and gym membership.

Research carried out last year showed that it would take a would-be property buyer the price of 11,815 avocado toasts to raise a house deposit in Sydney. In London, that more than doubled to 24,499 avocado toasts.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid defended young people in November, saying they were struggling to buy homes because of a broken system, not avocados.

A lot of avocados

He said: "Where once it would have taken an average couple three years to save for a deposit, it will now take a quarter of a century. Assuming, of course, they can afford to save at all.

"And last year, the average first-time buyer in London needed a deposit of more than £90,000. That's a lot of avocados."

In October 2016, demographer Bernard Salt wrote in The Australian that young people buying "smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 [£12.50] a pop and more" was contributing to their inability to get on the housing ladder.

He wrote: "How can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn't they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house."

His piece inspired Australian Greens senator to take an avocado to a Senate hearing as a prop on the issue of housing affordability just days later.

Melbourne property tycoon Tim Gurner, 35, said the expectations of young people were too high and that they ought to start saving more.

"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."

Australia's avocado shortage is being driven by rising demand between seasons pushing up prices even further to about $7 per fruit at some retailers, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Some cafes have taken avocado dishes off the menu altogether because they have become too expensive. It is expected that volumes will meet demand again by the end of February.