Tag: Politics

The data does not lie, housing is more out of reach for more Australians than ever before, whether renting, or purchase via a mortgage. The gap between incomes and home prices have gone through the roof, and households are spending more than ever on trying to house themselves. Over the past 20 years, property prices have risen at more than double that pace, increasing at a compound annual rate of 5.4 per cent. The result? An intergenerational chasm in wealth and opportunity, with younger Australians increasingly locked into rental cycles or forced to rely on parental support to buy a home.

But wait, we have a election campaign full of housing related promises, so surely this will be turned around, super quick No?

Well, no, not a chance actually. While Political leaders are pitching bold promises and glittering schemes to help young Australians climb the property ladder, behind the buzzwords and voter-friendly slogans, the numbers tell a far bleaker story. 70 years actually, Australia could be waiting until 2095 to see housing become truly affordable again.

Even though the policy platforms might sound promising, they are confused, political spin, especially against the promise from both major parties that they want to see home prices rise further, not fall towards more affordability.

Australia’s political and economic system has quietly but decisively placed homeownership at the centre of its wealth-building engine. Nearly every government of the past two decades has offered grants, tax breaks or deposit assistance schemes for homebuyers. But these policies have often acted to inflate prices further, helping buyers bid up property — and enriching those already in the market.

That mindset is politically potent. Over 11 million Australians own property, and 2.25 million hold investment properties. Only a few hundred thousand people attempt to enter the housing market each year. The electoral arithmetic is clear: protecting existing owners is good politics — even if it’s bad policy.

There are solutions out there, but So, on the one hand, 700,000 votes, on the other, something north of 11 million – even the dumbest of our politicians can “do that math”. And they do!

http://www.martinnorth.com/

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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Forget Affordable Housing: For Generations!

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Australia’s housing crisis is a key issue in this year’s election and as the campaigns run on, yawn, housing remains a central issue, but both major parties are playing games rather than getting to the heart of the issue. So today, I want to go though three cameos which bring out some of the critical issues which need to be explored. But aren’t in the current campaigns.

The first is the ongoing rental crisis, and I made a post recently on the problem one third of households are struggling with. But if this sounds rather academic, then my earlier show where I spoke with Morgan Cox, who has become something of a celebrity following his straightforward question on ABC Q&A, makes the issue personal.

And Morgan continues his quest to raise the issue of homelessness, as Albo now has a new neighbour, as Cox set up his tent outside the PM’s mansion in protest of the housing crisis. He says “I’m trying to send a message to the Government.”

The Second issue is homelessness versus development. On a quiet bend of Selwyn Street in Sydney’s affluent Paddington, two run-down homes stand as stark symbols of Australia’s escalating housing crisis.

In late 2022, developer LFD Developments snapped up the buildings, known as the Selwyn Street boarding houses, with plans to replace them with four luxury homes. Under threat of eviction, most of the 28 men who lived there moved out this year, with just four remaining.

Now, as housing affordability dominates the national agenda ahead of next month’s election, the battle to save this rare pocket of inner-city low-income housing has gained momentum.

And finally, Build to Rent as typified by in Sydney’s outer suburban hub of Parramatta, where there is an overgrown patch of land sandwiched between the train station and a Westfield mall but which is also is emblematic of the battle lines forming around the future of housing and who will run Australia.
Urban Property Group, a developer, is planning to build on the site a 46-story tower of build-to-rent housing, a previously uncommon type of accommodation in Australia where renters pay a company rather than an individual landlord.

In Australia’s case, the majority of BTR projects to date have been premium products targeting mid-to-high income households and even with a recently legislated affordability clause that applies to 10% of homes within developments, they’ll still be beyond the means of very low income earners.

Whoever wins the election will need to solve two crises at the same time – a chronic, retrospective housing shortage and a lack of future supply. That doesn’t happen overnight!

http://www.martinnorth.com/

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Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

Some Sliding Door Moments On The Fractured Australian Property!

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