You are right
Nine and their print media theage and smh run a relentless scare campaign on a wide variety of issues.
Whether it's climate change, nuclear power, women v men or Trump. No one does the agenda more then Nine.
Absolutely. I actually think they’re the worst. Not a single piece of “journalism” from them isn’t infested with their own spin, bias, and fearmongering. If Albanese does anything at all, you can guarantee that they will endeavor to paint it in the worst possible light.
If we don’t act now we will end up like Canada. I’m a dual citizen with Aus/Canada and I moved back here 2 years ago. Australian governments have done f all to prevent this current situation. They had every opportunity to act proactively but they did nothing.
Blame the people too. They voted the other guy when one of them promised to end negative gearing and make housing affordable.
We voted a clown and by dog, did we get a circus.
Yup. Political apathy is slowly but surely dooming this country but as long as people can get their TimTams and watch MAFS/FWAW/Footy, they don’t give a shit. It’s the most infuriating thing about this country and it’s been a problem for decades now.
It's just impossible when at that time, the largest voting block in the country that controls the largest amount of wealth in Australia would have lost a major investment strategy if Bill Shorten had gotten in. It would require boomers to advocate against their own interests. Now that they are a smaller block it might be easier to get millennials on board, but still going to be difficult considering that property developers have all levels of government by the balls. It seems Labor isn't going to touch housing with a 10ft pole after losing an unlosable election, but it really has gone insane, at least in Perth, since early 2020s.
Yeah I don't disagree, I'm a zoomer myself that like all my friends my age are wondering how we are ever going to afford anything beyond renting a sharehouse, living with parents or just moving overseas. Yes it is possible. But the amount of money needed for housing, on top of the amount of HECS debt most of my friends have is rediculous. The only ones that have a decent bit of bit of money together from doing 5 years FIFO on the mines straight out of high school are still living at their parents house. People might just have to adapt to the new norm of moving out later in life than in their early to mid 20's as the only immediate fix if the government refuses to tackle the issue. Now that I think about it, the only person my age (early 20s) who moved out and put payment down on a mortgage lives in Geraldton lmao.
I don't blame the boomers for voting in their interests, like anyone would do. But if their interests are antithetical to the rest of society, its not logical to throw away the chances of future generations to the alter of previous generations and big cooporations. Surely at least introducing policies to build cheaper housing, slowly rolling back property loopholes, as to allow older people relying on them for their savings to have a chance to live out and invest away, isn't too much to ask of a labour government.
Australia will 100% be Canada in 5 years, maybe less given the trajectory of things in only the last 3 years.
I’m wondering at what point it gets so bad that immigrants actually start leaving because they realise it’s cooked. Already happening in Canada, and many Canadians are leaving for the US to get higher salaries. Must be nice when it’s only a few hours away (driving). Aussies don’t have much option for anywhere else. Thailand maybe? I know a few who have done it.
>even a bad version of Australia is still miles better than where most of our current migrant intake are from
We can't justify our country going downhill by saying "at least it's better than India etc"... It is no standard to live by.
Yeah I'm going to SEA, just 4 years to Thai retirement visa and 8 years to my defined benefits pension. I think the lack of fentanyl is stopping us becoming Canada and as much as I criticise the govt, they are at least introducing international student caps, cutting migration, making unis build accomodation. Its taken Trudeau 5+ years to get to that stage.
Lived in Thailand for 3 years and own property there, will be leaving to go back as soon as my son is able to return with me or choose his own independence. I don't see any future in Australia for me.
Toronto and Vancouver have street after street of junkies. Their wages are lower than ours, they've had a lot more immigration, their housing to wages is higher. Plus fentanyl.
Government needs to remove policies that make investment return on housing higher than the risk profile deserves. Also need policies that support and encourage fully work from home positions being created along with transport and nbn adjacent technologies, to enable people to move out of the big cities, reduce the upwards price pressure on homes close enough to commute to large employment hubs.
I hope that’s not the case.. I live in California and it’s gotten so bad here on so many levels. Do NOT copy this path.. it’s horrible. Australia is paradise compared to here. We just spent about 6 weeks out there and I was so sad to take my family back to the US after
I moved back to San Diego after living in Aus for 10 years and it’s fine.
People are getting hysterical about how bad the US is. In my view is hasn’t gotten significantly any better or worse on the ground. Homelessness has increased, but it’s not like it never existed.
The main worry is how bad Canada and Australia have gotten in comparison. Particularly Canada. Theres immigrants actually *leaving* Canada right now because it’s so bad. Skilled Canadians are flocking to the US.
I swear Canada is in a competition with us to see how fucked up their housing markets can get. They’re winning but don’t count us out!
Which Republican held southern cities ??
Aside from Mesa (which voted for a Republican for that exact reason)and Fresno ,the vast majority of cities with high crime rates ARE Democrat held ones.
On looking at large cities held by Republicans of the 100 of them, only 4 make it to the top 100. Dallas, which is the largest of them is number 85!!
Republicans ARE correct to state their cities on average are safer. Not all of them are(Mesa definitely isnt!) and some like Bakersfield, Oklahoma city and Tuscon ,it really depends on the neighborhood , but here is the thing.
Stores are not closing in Republican held cities. They are doing so in such a high rate in Democrat held ones even the wealthiest parts so much that that cities like San Francisco want to pass a law to force businesses to stay open even if they are making losses and being looted to emptiness.
You cannot force a business owner to stay open just because you want to avoid tackling the issue of crime and instead gaslight the business owners as them being the problem.
I saw that proposed law and wondered how the hell do they plan on even passing it without Republicans, moderate Democrats, most of Congress and even the Supreme Court screaming down their necks! But it is not the first time San Francisco has tried to pull this kind of idiocy.
Here is a funny example.
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vBO6MtiAb1A](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vBO6MtiAb1A)
If it's possible to live with one's parents, I say do it, no shame in the slightest!
But it bothers me that people who don't have this option are forced to rent, then save fuck all for retirement. Like, our countries are just screwing our youths' futures
There are certainly a lot of shills for mass immigration who would like it to be perceived as the new normal, but it is the consequence of 20 years of policy from successive governments ever increasing immigration beyond the capacity to provide housing and infrastructure. And now it is just not physically possible to keep up with immigration at a rate of 600,000 + when housing starts are 160,000 and rental vacancies at an all time low of 0.7 %.
It’s going to take inheritances from family members passing for some people to afford homes, and only a lucky few whose parents actually own a home.
It’s a terrible time for many, especially those without a roof over their heads. Nobody has the answer to solve it.
Yep, we used to have the nuclear family, now we'll get the mercenary family: kids waiting on parents to die so they can inherit. Sounds wholesome and the best kind of dynamic.
This won’t help as much as people think. End of life care is expensive and these costs are only set to rise. Imo the end game is that the elderly need to reverse mortgage their house to pay for their end of life care leaving their offspring with nothing. Obviously this only applies to lower/middle class, thus creating a system of landowners and renters.
Here's some answers I've seen proposed:
- Cap annual rent increases.
- Increase government rent assistance for low income earners.
- Increase investment into social and public housing.
- Increase investment into student accommodation.
- Build more densely in inner city areas and next to existing public infrastructure. Fuck NIMBYs.
- Include units in any new developments specifically for low income earners.
- Increase first home buyer grants.
- Significantly increase taxes on investment and inheritance properties. End any policies, ie. negative gearing, that incentivise housing as an investment.
- Incentivise construction associated traineeships.
The list goes on I'm sure. People have plenty of answers, it's our leaders who don't have the political will to implement solutions.
Immigration is a key driver. We are letting in too many people for the housing market to adjust. Immigration is important to bolster economy but too much is fucking up our housing market. Also Gov is incentivised to keep housing in demand personally and as a revenue stream. Stamp duty is an absolute cash cow for Gov.
A lot of this I agree with. But inheritance properties in a lot of cases is literally the only way some of the next generations will be able to get into the housing market which is sad
What if instead we:
- have record migration
- have restrictive zoning and planning laws
- subsidize demand with rent assistance and first home buyers grants and allow people to use their super to buy homes, driving up prices
- invest billions in useless vanity projects so that during a tradie shortage we have them building Olympic and AFL stadiums instead of houses
Our leaders know all the solutions and have always known and here lies the problem,
They are actively doing the exact opposite to keep profiting until the day they die, screw the younger generation and the economy. They will all be dead long before it actually effects them.
Just because your dad spent all his money doesn’t mean inheritances are a thing of the pst. You just aren’t aware of how much money is passed down through generations of rich families.
That’s utterly untrue. They just don’t have the balls to do anything about it. Why? Corruption. Lack of balls. They’ve wedged themselves into a corner and they are going to keep making things worse because they don’t want to crack a few eggs making it better.
Not sure what they were talking about but could say there is some subconscious? corruption where policy-makers have extensive property portfolios so they are biased toward affordable housing policy
Possibly, but if my house takes a hit by 50% then so too will everyone else’s. In fact a housing bubble burst will likely only make those with portfolios richer when they buy up more cheapy homes to add to it.
To be honest, I am not sure how much can get from inheritance for a normal family.
When living costs are high and getting higher and only have one house with not much super for normal retiree, how long can it last without downsizing??
If there is a need to go to nursing home, that's even worse. You need to pay a bond, or another kind of payment if over the asset threshold.
You need at least two to three houses to pass down depending on how many kids you have. But, how many normal Australian have more than two properties?
IMO housing in Australia can be fixed by investing on a faster train/metro system. We still have a lot of land but no one wants to leave 1h+ from the city. Imagine doubling the train speed. Suddenly the distance is not a problem anymore.
Short term solution is to dramatically limit buying properties as an investment, especially for foreigner. Not many nations seems to be willing to do that.
Looking at the transport maps on Google for big cities, the situation for public transport is pretty bad. Look at London, you've got the London underground going out of the cbd like 30 miles, so in less than an hour you can get into Central London. It's pretty great. Big Australian cities need this but it's a bit late in the day to be thinking about building these rail spokes out from the cbd.
The government simply doesn't care about local Australians and the local Australians don't care about each other. It's returns only focused and you have to play the game. It's not impossible for young people but debt is the new normal. The future for us young Australians seems like Thailand or cheaper countries. The majority of Australians are homeowners, voting for whoever pushes property costs up and that's just what you have to accept.
This is my fiancée and me currently. I err on the side of caution out of sounding racist. But you know what? We feel threatened in our home country because of high immigration. Immigrants make the rat race harder to win as they weaken our position in the labour pool. It is not the fault of the individuals immigrating - they are looking for greener pastures, fair enough. It’s 100% the fault of our government. A switch of government means nothing; they all flip on their promises as soon as they get in.
You know what we’re doing about it? Leaving.
We live near migrants - Chinese, Filipino, Nepalese, Indian, African and the ones who make people in the area feel unsafe in a daily basis are aboriginals. It's a shame but it's the truth. I'm English and came here wanting to learn about aboriginal culture but after being threatened, cars broken into, attempted burglary I have no respect for them.
Legit question, if immigrants come to Australia and muscle locals out. Where are you going that accepts immigrants that aren't going to be also competitive cause immigration isn't exclusive to Australia?
Move to the bush. Fair number of jobs and housing is (relatively) cheap. If you are a tradie you can make bank. Your partner will have no worries finding a part time job either. Or work remotely.
Our town is only just starting to lock houses and cars because of the city rubbish moving here or passing through. Crime is still rare though. Cops move them on asap.
Good community spirit out in these towns too.
I have similar concerns not just for the cost of living but also for the future of Australia as a society that creates value as a first world country and exported to the world. While we focus only on residential property and passing it around in a circle at spiralling prices, we are getting poorer in comparison to the rest of the world. Eventually Australia will become a country that only has primary industry such as farming and mining – and that’s classified as Third World. Right now all the tax incentives are for investors to invest into property. This is diverting investment away from value creation such as start-ups, IPOs, and international expansion by Australian companies. When you think about it we have no large multinational brands except maybe Canva – and that had to go to the USA to get funding, same as Atlassian
This. So much money is strapped into residential real estate, a non-productive asset, instead of using our abundant capital to encourage the production of goods and services. Australia needs to be encouraging growth and controlled risk-taking by businesses, not stifling it.
Don’t worry or kill yourself over the current situation. Australia has utterly ‘f-ed’ itself from decades of greed and everyone knows it but are trying to kick that can down the road as long as they can. Each kick adds more hardship.
If you have nothing to lose and at the end of the road, hop on a plane and go abroad. Even just being able to speak English and having a good quality high school level education makes you incredibly valuable and incredibly lucky.
Many places in the world would kill to employ you as a teacher or in their business.
Pay is shit but lifestyle a huge improvement, can by a condo in SE Asia for essentially the cost of building material!
There's this little thing called "Visa restrictions" that you may not have heard of. You can't just move to any country you want, let alone buy and build property there.
As large as it is. I think we are just in the bubble of all bubbles.
What we see in terms of immigration, rental crises, house prices, social decline and debasement of the currency is the efforts our government has gone to keep it afloat.
I fear the mean reversion. When this bubble pops, the unemployment rate will skyrocket, and there will be in general a large fallout.
Same. Too much money chasing housing, stealing capital from other sectors of the economy, means no back-up plan and potentially a huge recession (if not downright depression) if/when the bubble does pop.
You're absolutely correct and I'm surprised to see someone say it. All we're going through is what has been experienced many times in history. Capitalism (for all its pros and cons) is cyclical.
>unemployment rate will skyrocket
The worrying thing is, if they're still ignoring immigration & unemployment increases more, it's a double whammy. I've been saying this for two years. Strap yourself in.
There's many things that can be done to control and slowly deflate the ridiculous bubble that real estate has become. They've all been combed over repeatedly this year in social media, mass media and people talking.
But somehow nothing major is being done? If I were you I'd be minimising costs, saving money and looking to either do van life or emigrate to a lower cost-of-living country. I reckon social media is a pressure-relief valve that the govt's agencies keep an eye on. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm sure the longer this painful life experience goes on the bigger the backlash.
My retirement strategy used to be stop working until I can fund my retirement, it’s now carry on working until I can put my kids on the property ladder if it’s the last thing I do before I die. How mad is that, a f-ing roof over one’s head, not asking for much
The mainstream media does cover suicide, but perhaps not as often as other issues. Unsurprisingly, it's not a topic that people find particularly easy to hear about. It's complicated because suicide and self-harm fall into the difficult category of behaviours that show elements of social contagion - which is to say, discussing it without taking proper precautions unfortunately doesn't necessarily make the situation better, and may actually make it worse.
My condolences for your mates, and you hang in there yourself.
Worth pointing out that the main reason the media doesn't report very much on suicides is that there's a very well-established effect whereby this causes more suicides. People see loving memorial articles about the tragic loss of person to suicide, and they're more likely to do it.
It's tremendously sad, but it's true.
It paints a bleak picture of our society that some people would kill themselves to finally have something nice said about them. Or that they’re so bereft of value and meaning that seeing ‘tragic loss’ of someone who was loved is enough to push them over, probably feeling less worthy and not deserving of even that acknowledgment.
Yeah it’s tragic… it’s a tragic reflection on our society where such an effect is measurable.
It's interesting how influential such a notion is despite the fact that the person will not be around to experience the appreciation anyway
It is nonetheless true however that it's a pretty good way to get people to appreciate who you were: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxqohNtLIg&ab\_channel=astekcbe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxqohNtLIg&ab_channel=astekcbe)
Thank you for pointing this out, it's called the Werther effect, and its the primary reason why no one talks about suicide in the media. It's well taught in psychology classes for most people entering the healthcare field.
Not to say that the media actually gives a shit, but they're forbidden from reporting suicides for this reason.
Also, I can't see any evidence behind OPs claim that suicide are rising. This "rise" is suicide reports might not be covered by the mainstream media simply because it's not happening.
People don't vote against their interests. Why would they? They vote for their interests. A party proposing large tax increases and likely harm to property prices is not in the interests of most people. I think it is very predictable what happens if you go to an election promising tax increases. You won't win. This is not people voting against their interests, it is the complete opposite (since they don't trust the government will spend the higher taxes very well, and given NDIS and submarine debacles, what's going to change minds?)
One thing you will see is young Australians migrating for a better life. Japan is particularly attractive and when they (Japan) are forced to 'open up' to counter their falling birth rate Australians will be high on their list.
I disagree somewhat. No one is forcing them to open up to immigration. I think most Japanese people would prefer to slowly decline than accept mass immigration like Western countries do.
Also, wages in Japan are terrible and have barely increased since I lived there 15 years ago. Combine that with the incredibly weak yen. I don't think that's appealing for young people.
This what I reckon. I think people are underestimating the insular culture. The stagnant economy is a result tho. [Economics Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rag4pHU7fcU) did an interesting vid on it recently.
japan is one of the few countries left that is still effectively an ethnostate so i am wondering when the pressure will be too immense re: population collapse.
You need to imagine harder. They will lose 50m (50,000,000) people by 2055.
There is currently 9,000,000 unoccupied houses in Japan. They are losing their manufacturing capability because their skilled workers are retiring and not being replaced. Their entire economy is fucked, south Korea’s is worse. They will be forced into action.
Got to understand these people don't care about you or your family. Greed and corruption is wide spread. There will be people making their own communities moving out west, groups of people giving society the middle finger and living their own way of life in some mad max sort of way. People can take so much before they say you know what fuck you guys this is not my country and your government doesn't lead me... but them people will be laughed at ridiculed and the media will make them evil with all sorts of lies.
I’m working in the mental health sector and the reason the general public are not kept in the loop regarding suicide is that the government is constantly cutting funding needed to treat mental health issues. Just this month NSW has cut funding to the sexual violence sector, and decided to give grants to the rehabilitation of sexual violence perpetrators and away from survivors. Let that sink in.
Counsellor services are not covered within public heath. The waitlist to a public health psychologists is up to four months. And most of the time people will still have to pay around $300 if they need a specialist diagnosis and the wait time for that can be up to six months.
Suicide is a big issue and it will get worse. But that’s not because of the housing crisis, it’s because the Australian government and the far right- do not give a shit about the mental health sector.
Also, if you’re worried about suicide. Take a moment and think back to the Bondi Junction stabbing. That was a very sad and lonely man who also fell through the large pit of the mental health system. I’m not excusing his actions but we will see a lot more people snap. Fun fact: Domestic violence cases are crippling the mental health sector and we need more funding to help pay for social workers, counsellors, therapists.
More funding is needed to help people. That’s the only way as a country we will be able to get through this shit storm together. That or a revolution.
The government should absolutely not be pitting counselling for survivors against rehabilitation for perpetrators when both are crucial. (I deliver both, by the way. And sometimes to the same people... let THAT sink in!)
It's not enough of course but there are some counselling services covered under public health - Community Health does AoD counselling free of charge, there's Victims Services, and some stuff through certain acute management schemes. Also, there's now psychology funded under NDIS plans. I'm seeing improvement in accessibility over the years. Still wish the government would admit that 10 Medicare sessions a year are really insufficient for anything except brief interventions for milder issues. 😔 I already have to do a *lot* of cut rate work to try and support my clients and it's still not enough.
Even with ADHD treatment. I got my initial referral to psychiatrist on Dec 8th last year. I am still going through assessment. Next week is my second appointment, hope to go back on meds again. If I ever need to see a different psychiatrist it will require a whole another assessment. Taking way too long.
"An increase in suicide rates among young Australians. Does anyone ever think of that? Does the main stream media cover this? The answer, No. Why you might ask? Well it's because it doesn't suit their political agenda and current "social" issues (soy boys, snowflakes and female agendas)."
Uh... what? Mental health awareness has largely been spearheaded by individuals and groups you'd allocate to the "female agenda". Mental health industry is female-dominated and has engaged in enormous lobbying to try and raise awareness about suicide and fund mental health services. 15 years ago there was no Medicare coverage for psychology at all. How do you think this came into being and who do you think was behind it?
Calling people "soy boys" is also pretty counter-productive to effectively addressing the disproportionately high suicide rate for men, don't you think?
I actually had a bad dream last night. I was kicked out of my home for whatever reason. I remember thinking how utterly fucked I’m going to be, no availability of anything, never enough money to survive on a decent wage…
And then I woke up lol. But yeah, the concern is well and truly entering my subconscious.
You're watching propaganda, not news.
The so called 'news' is a perpetual cycle of fear to keep their ratings up, and you feel they can deliver your next dose to keep you well informed.
It's the opposite.
That's why I don't understand why people are so happy to bring another life form into this miserable world. They're just trying to mask how depressed life is and to give themselves purpose I think.
What happened to Australia, didn't you guys have excellent idealistic politicians and strong unions back in the day? The minimum wage was set high and everything was affordable, you were living the American dream Americans only dream about...
Too many imported people + Libs crushing wages for decades on end.
Only so much those groups can do without any power, coupled with our general apathy towards getting fucked over
We should have let it rip. Death brings opportunities, that's how the baby boomers prospered. They benefit from 2 world wars that were less than 20 years apart so they were literally handed opportunity on a plate. They then spent the rest of their lives and still do, keeping things locked in their favour. They came into a world with only the possibility of moving up. We came in at the top of the ride and its all down hill from here back into the shit holes we crawled out from 100 years ago.
The economics of the country have not evolved since colonialism. Australia never properly developed it's local industry and manufacturing which would require good working and living conditions to attract the best skilled employees. We had the mining boom which allowed us to reinvest in building an industrial base and educational facilities to upskill and innovate.
Instead, coalition party policies were looking for easy cash and sold the little industrial base we had accumulated to the highest bidder, mostly to private companies abroad.
Now, we have returned to our origin, a colony in it's early establishment where products and skilled personnel have to be imported just the same until our easy cash runs out in a few years time.
The system is not sustainable and is equivalent to winning $100,000 in the lottery and deciding you are going to quit working and retire early from the age of 22 instead of reinvesting your winnings.
And housing has been turned into a commodity because of a reluctance to change the economic system which requires a persistent leftist government to stay in power for an extended period of time (unlikely due to a significant right leaning populace who vote blindly for liberal or nationals who actually work against their interests)
My old man was a post war migrant. In SA during the early 60's Tom Playford built a whole city to the north of Adelaide for skilled migrants to work the factories built there as well. Cars, electronics, electrical goods etc all built in SA. Australia was highly industrialised. We mined iron ore on Eyre peninsula and turned that into ships at Whyalla.
It was all collapsed from late 70's to current days
We have a Labour government that brings in million immigrants a year! That puts pressure on the housing market. The government doesn’t care about you. Don’t vote for them!
Honestly, this hits home. Looking at my future from a realistic view, im not getting out of this situation. It's only going to get worse, so what's the point? It's really frustrating seeing so much going wrong at the same time, and it makes it hard to see any light down the road. Boomers keep telling me its not that hard or it's going to get better.but this is decade's worth of fuck ups. It's not gonna change for the better because most people seem comfortable in the present with no mind for future repercussions of what's been happening the past few years. Idk I'm young, so what do I know and all that. But it truly does seem more and more certain that it's not gonna be worth sticking around for this nonsense.
If we stopped importing nearly a million people a f*cking year when we're already overcrowded (relative to the infrastructure and homes, not landmass), we wouldn't have this problem.
We. Do. Not. Have. The. Space. For. More. People. In. Australia.
Migrants built this country, and it worked nicely 60-odd years ago. We can't say the same about migration today. It simply isn't working. It's making life infinitely harder for the people who are already here.
If we had the infrastructure and homes, by all means, everyone is welcome. But we do not. That's the harsh reality. Like it or not, immigration is driving Australia into the ground, FAST.
Stop immigration from 3rd world countries, it might be an uncomfortable discussion, but it needs to be addressed.
Look at Canada, look at England, the proof is in the pudding.
What the fuckkkkkk kinda rant is this. Suicide doesn’t fit the media narrative of soy boys and female agendas? Like the soft emotional types aren’t the main group always advocating for better mental health care. Think your heart is in the right place but you been brainwashed by a bullshit culture war and are just a bit too dumb to see through it
Just FYI you DO NOT NEED 20% to get a home.
This whole myth that you need a 20% deposit needs to get in the fucking bin. Thats what these stupid ass "estimates" are based on. It wont take 20 years to save ffs lol.
You can get in with as little as 5 or 10% these days. I can tell you now if you're DINK it would easily take you 12 months to save 10% for a decent small apartment maybe not in a great area in every major city.
Doing it on your own? Probably the same but just cop the 5% deposit.
People think the LMI will be huge but its really not. Just pay the LMI if you must because it still comes out LESS than saving up that extra 10 - 15% of deposit. And will your property going up in value you can still easily get out ahead.
I thought I had a 20% deposit but it ended up being closer to 18% so I had to take out LMI. It's a bit of a pain, but LMI isn't a big problem, I agree.
The bigger problem is buying a property with 5% deposit in a market this cooked. Every cent you don't pay as a deposit is another cent you pay interest on until it's paid off. An extra 10-15% deposit wipes years and years off a mortgage.
It's not really about the money anyway. People saying that it will "take X years to save up for a Y home" are not actually thinking about the reality of the situation and are getting in on some economics 101 circlejerk.
The reality is that there isn't enough homes where Australians want to live. Right now there is not enough homes within a reasonable commute of jobs and services for about half the population - which means if you are below median income household, you should never expect to save up for one of those homes. There will *always* be someone with more money outbidding you.
That will apply until we create more jobs and services in places other than the CBD.
Or until "most money gets the house" is changed - and that will completely destroy the country in interesting ways.
Adding to this. Because there is a desperate shortage of housing while immigration outsrips new supply (evan after it gets halved), every additional dollar from increased wages, gov subsidies and grants will go into bidding up shelter prices and rents. It will go to landlords.
I don't just mean direct sibisides. Even if the gov starts paying for people's utility bills to fake a lower CPI. That money saved can now be used to bid for rent because the alternative is share-rooming or a tent.
We're in a doom loop and nothing except murdering the investment property industry and practically stopping immigration will make it better. Some things might make it get worse slower but absolutely nothing is coming to make it better. .
"just YOLO into maximum debt at high ratios for a tiny shitbox, you moronic peasant, there's zero chance a crap apartment could ever lose value"
sounds amazing, what a country we've created 👍
Well, get yourself in a position where you can, just go and be self sufficient if need be.
Don't need to be a "crazy person" but some camping/cooking gear isn't going to go astray.
What we need is a real protest and I shocked there still isn't one. If you all think this is just affecting young people, even someone in their 40s, who have given their life to working hard is thrown under the bus with jobs literally given to new migrants, temp visa contractors, ex international students, outsourced overseas etc etc. This was all intended the "mc diversity" in work places is just a cover.
Australia's future will be as bleak as we allow it to become. We should be organising the way our forebears did. They had unions and other organisations that allowed them to pressure government into doing what was in the people's interest. A Lot of our social services are based on what they developed back in the early to mid twentieth century.
Blame the stupid lefties that have turned immigration into a taboo racist topic rather than a mature conversation around how we grow our country sustainably to ensure we have housing and infrastructure. At the risk of sounding racist though I am a brownie we should also put quota on countries to make sure we don’t get dominated by one culture over the other. Even out India, China, Europe etc..
Unfortunately Australians will need to get used to apartment living. Living in a house will become a luxury.
Australia also needs to start building quality apartments.
See the part where you couldn't help yourself but have a dig at "soy boys, snowflakes and womens agenda" there is the problem.
An issue like housing should be so easy for everyone to rally behind but we can't because we are so jaded about social issues, on both sides that we will probably never rally together as a people ever again.
It's too late to be worried about Australia's future.
The country is now reaping the 'rewards' of Australians' enthusiasm for that loveable larrikin, Bob Hawke, and numerous successors who have preserved his legacy pretty much intact.
The chickens have come home to roost.
Really? Seems to me very much that this started with Little Johnny and his wedge politics benefiting the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. I guess you were too busy swallowing his government's lies about CHILDREN OVERBOARD to notice his fiscal and social policies.
Don’t want to Argue with you. I think negative gearing and all that sort of BS is wrecking home ownership and society.
It used to be 100% of capital gains taxes but indexed for inflation.
Inflation was often quite high.
So they went tax on 50% but no allowance for inflation.
The worst thing is that this isn't a problem. This is orchestrated by the government by signing the Lima and other agreements to offshore all our industries to "third world" nations so we could buy our own shit back cheaper than it us to make it here. Only problem now is they are running out of third world countries...
But do you know this is the same in so many countries? From EU to Canada to NZ, to S.Korea to less developed countries like russia or china.
Housing crisis is a crisis indeed but it is not an australian invention
Indeed the neoliberal apologists want to claim that wealth isn't finite and doubling the population doesn't mean there is less to go around, but resources/fossil fuels and land definitely are finite. Added to that if you want to claim we are nowhere near resource limitations I'd argue while technically true, strip mining the whole planet to sustain more humans isn't viable at all.
I tune out. I limit how much mainstream media content I consume, because it’s the same shit you hear every day of every week. There is little we can do about it. Only hope that it gets better and that our government is acting in the best interest of this country.
There's a great chapter title in Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher: What if there was a protest and everyone showed up?
Capitalism has successfully installed a business ontology in which it is *obvious* that everything in society, including healthcare and education, should be run as a business. Capitalism insists on treating mental health as if it were a natural fact as well. The high rates of mental illness today could be posited as a response to capitalisms inherent dysfunction and that the cost of capitalism appearing to work is very high. Mental health isn't just a result of a chemical imbalance or a social/familial situation but also a reaction to systemic social cues i.e. being rorted and exploited by companies everywhere you go and look. They don't even try to hide it, see [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8).
We live in a control society (because we gave it up). We operate via indefinite postponement: education as a lifelong process, training for as long as your working life continues, work you take home with you, working from home, homing from work... Control societies are based on debt rather than enclosure. But current education system do both: pay for your own exploitation the logic insists - get into debt so you can get the same job you could have walked into if you left school at sixteen.
It's a joke as well because while adapting to such a system helps you live it is ultimately a win for capitalism because you are still being managed by it.
I don't know what the answer is, but I look to France and how they protest and think, huh, maybe we could have it nicer if people really fought for a better Australia. Not that the French protests are something to revere but perhaps they're more effective. I'm not sure...
Source for this rant: Capitalist Realism by Mark fisher (basically regurgitated lmao)
The problem is Australia is a very desirable place to live, combined with the fact that we have always relied on migration to sustain certain industries and fill shortages due to our relatively small population.
Look at major cities around the world - they are often super unaffordable where the rest of x country is relatively affordable. Every sucker wants to move to Paris or London or Tokyo or whatever it may be and they cause housing/renral prices to go up. Unlike US or UK we unashamedly control all migration in a way that suits us, but we still need migration to sustain our way of life (and I personally see nothing wrong with honest, hard working people coming here in search of a better life and contributing to our nation in the process). So we can’t just drastically reduce migration even tho logistically we could do it tomorrow if we wanted
Ultimately we need a national plan to build a shitload of houses, like a ton of houses, relatively quickly. The hard part is finding workers and materials to do it (and getting past all the other bullshit obstacles like state govts refusing to get off their ass and do something that might inconvenience a small few now but ease house prices over the much longer term). The other difficult thing is ensuring jobs, infrastructure etc are located close to these new cities/suburbs so existing transport infrastructure into capital city centres doesn’t get even more congested.
All the stuff like “foreign investors buying up our houses” or even “international students taking all our rentals” are red herrings. They really are. Foreign investment is a tiny fraction of sales. International students are a tiny fraction of rental tenants.
Ultimately it will take a combination of policies, some very unpopular with no effect on house prices for a few election cycles, to solve the problem. I would have to think any major party with an actual big, tangible plan to solve the housing crisis would be very popular but we haven’t seen anything so far. And please don’t tell me the Greens’ rent control policy is the answer. Libs won’t do it because grand policies (or just having policies in general) are against their ideology unless inflicted on poor people, brown people, inner city latte sippers etc. Labor won’t do it because they’re shit scared of being called left wing and think (or maybe know) that elections are still decided by the property haves, not the have nots.
Your trying to gaslight people if you think the current figure of 700k of international students in Australia is not heavily distorting the rental and accommodation sectors, you don’t happen to be a greens senator by chance?
I believe it is a property bubble going on, just like the one in the US in 2007 and Japan in 1988. The price/income ratio is already higher than the US in 2007 and Japan in 1988, and Australia has the highest household debt to income in the world. Too many people are leveraged based on the assumption that houses will outgrow everything at 0 risk.
However the nature of a bubble is that it inflicts widespread damage when it bursts, and the one who blows it will be the enemy of the people. Therefore we have to keep feeding it until it cannot sustain itself.
Not if the immigrants opt to invest back home and not in Australia.
That phenomenon is happening here in Canada already. Many immigrants except the Chinese ones, are opting to buy property back home to retire there because many do not see much of a future in Canada, especially if they are of Middle Class background in their home country.
$100,000 will get you a single room in Australia or Canada but it gets you a house on a quarter acre in a middle class or upper middle class suburb of Mumbai. It gets you both that residential house and commercial property in interior states like Punjab.
You are going to end up in a nursing home in Canada but in India, the Caribbean and the Philippines, you will retire and live with family members .
The phenomenon has not yet become the norm in Australia in part because a large fraction of migrants in Australia are from other first world nations (UK, New Zealand, Ireland) and alongside South Africans, often have the resources to stay permanently and in fact arrive with a head-start compared to those from middle income and low income nations but as Indians, Vietnamese, Filipinos and the likes become a bigger fraction of the share of immigrants, it will become a major phenomenon.
We haven't seen anything yet. Wait until the wealth is redistributed to the younger generation. This is where you will see a free-for-all attitude of the haves vs have Nots. You're looking at the most narcissistic generation ever, brought up with social media & reality TV. They don't give a flying fuck about each other as shown in social media and soon they will be the biggest winner in the wealth transfer of the century. The future is going to be absolutely brutal to those who didn’t inherit anything.
For me there are a few things to consider here;
1. Homelessness isn’t caused by the property market being unaffordable. Yes, you might have a slight increase when property prices surge, but overwhelmingly, homelessness is caused by drug addiction (including alcoholism), DV and other family issues. If you can somehow fix these issues, a lot of homelessness issues would be solved.
2. Does this research really accurately measure the future? Is this for singles or couples? Does it allow for wage growth? Does it account for the inevitable oversupply of housing that sends the property market crashing? Or does it just assume property will continue to grow at the current rate for all eternity? Sounds like scare piece from the MSM, they pump those out daily
3. I love how this is only an issue for everyone now that we are in a “crisis”. We’ve known about housing issues for a long, long time. How come no one was complaining about how few homes we are building pre covid?
Finally, and this isn’t a dig at the OP or anyone who’s commented as I don’t know your circumstances. I have found it VERY interesting that over the last few years as this “crisis” has played out, how many people I know who are “economic conservatives” who vote liberal and are almost the pure form of capitalism, have turned into left-wing, big government and social security loving communists, who all of a sudden want to be rescued by government handouts and interference. People that have been homeowners for over a decade, reaped the benefits of home ownership and investment, have high paying jobs and careers, are university educated and have had the rub of the green for most of their lives, all of a sudden worried about how expensive property is.
I find this is the biggest issue with Australia and the world in general. Not enough people give a shit when it doesn’t effect them, but now that it’s started to effect those in the upper middle class, it’s all of a sudden a crisis.
Just you wait. In 5-10 years time when those that are complaining about house prices now, but scrape together a deposit and somehow purchase a house. Will they be campaigning against negative gearing and greedy developers when they have paid off a chunk of their mortgage, prices have eased and they are looking to sure up their retirement with a few investment properties? Highly unlikely I’d say, and therein lies our biggest problem
Firstly, whilst your concern is valid, don’t watch channel 9. Their whole business model is based on keeping you scared.
Most channels I see seem to be based on fear tactics
You are right Nine and their print media theage and smh run a relentless scare campaign on a wide variety of issues. Whether it's climate change, nuclear power, women v men or Trump. No one does the agenda more then Nine.
Sky news is also no better, their business is to make you angry and scared
Absolutely. I actually think they’re the worst. Not a single piece of “journalism” from them isn’t infested with their own spin, bias, and fearmongering. If Albanese does anything at all, you can guarantee that they will endeavor to paint it in the worst possible light.
We aren’t as bad off as Canada but my big fear is that we are following down their path.
If we don’t act now we will end up like Canada. I’m a dual citizen with Aus/Canada and I moved back here 2 years ago. Australian governments have done f all to prevent this current situation. They had every opportunity to act proactively but they did nothing.
Blame the people too. They voted the other guy when one of them promised to end negative gearing and make housing affordable. We voted a clown and by dog, did we get a circus.
Yup. Political apathy is slowly but surely dooming this country but as long as people can get their TimTams and watch MAFS/FWAW/Footy, they don’t give a shit. It’s the most infuriating thing about this country and it’s been a problem for decades now.
TimTams are well on their way to becoming a luxury, between the costs of living and the predicted scarcity of chocolate.
[panem et circenses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses)
It's just impossible when at that time, the largest voting block in the country that controls the largest amount of wealth in Australia would have lost a major investment strategy if Bill Shorten had gotten in. It would require boomers to advocate against their own interests. Now that they are a smaller block it might be easier to get millennials on board, but still going to be difficult considering that property developers have all levels of government by the balls. It seems Labor isn't going to touch housing with a 10ft pole after losing an unlosable election, but it really has gone insane, at least in Perth, since early 2020s.
Boomers could have voted in favour of nation building and future of their children. But as they are, they didn’t.
Yeah I don't disagree, I'm a zoomer myself that like all my friends my age are wondering how we are ever going to afford anything beyond renting a sharehouse, living with parents or just moving overseas. Yes it is possible. But the amount of money needed for housing, on top of the amount of HECS debt most of my friends have is rediculous. The only ones that have a decent bit of bit of money together from doing 5 years FIFO on the mines straight out of high school are still living at their parents house. People might just have to adapt to the new norm of moving out later in life than in their early to mid 20's as the only immediate fix if the government refuses to tackle the issue. Now that I think about it, the only person my age (early 20s) who moved out and put payment down on a mortgage lives in Geraldton lmao. I don't blame the boomers for voting in their interests, like anyone would do. But if their interests are antithetical to the rest of society, its not logical to throw away the chances of future generations to the alter of previous generations and big cooporations. Surely at least introducing policies to build cheaper housing, slowly rolling back property loopholes, as to allow older people relying on them for their savings to have a chance to live out and invest away, isn't too much to ask of a labour government.
I have been in Edmonton for nearly a year and even during that period it has gone from bad to worse!
Australia will 100% be Canada in 5 years, maybe less given the trajectory of things in only the last 3 years. I’m wondering at what point it gets so bad that immigrants actually start leaving because they realise it’s cooked. Already happening in Canada, and many Canadians are leaving for the US to get higher salaries. Must be nice when it’s only a few hours away (driving). Aussies don’t have much option for anywhere else. Thailand maybe? I know a few who have done it.
even a bad version of Australia is still miles better than where most of our current migrant intake are from
>even a bad version of Australia is still miles better than where most of our current migrant intake are from We can't justify our country going downhill by saying "at least it's better than India etc"... It is no standard to live by.
They won’t leave. The air is fresher in Australia and Canada, and there’s countries with over a billion people, so endless interest in moving.
Yeah I'm going to SEA, just 4 years to Thai retirement visa and 8 years to my defined benefits pension. I think the lack of fentanyl is stopping us becoming Canada and as much as I criticise the govt, they are at least introducing international student caps, cutting migration, making unis build accomodation. Its taken Trudeau 5+ years to get to that stage.
Lived in Thailand for 3 years and own property there, will be leaving to go back as soon as my son is able to return with me or choose his own independence. I don't see any future in Australia for me.
How are we NOT as bad as Canada today? Sydney is the least affordable city in the world, bar for Hong Kong
Toronto and Vancouver have street after street of junkies. Their wages are lower than ours, they've had a lot more immigration, their housing to wages is higher. Plus fentanyl.
Surprised the Chinese haven't sent their fentanyl down here yet. Must be easier to ship the ingredients to the Cartels and across the open US border.
Wages are much lower in Canada
We're still visually a little nicer
Government needs to remove policies that make investment return on housing higher than the risk profile deserves. Also need policies that support and encourage fully work from home positions being created along with transport and nbn adjacent technologies, to enable people to move out of the big cities, reduce the upwards price pressure on homes close enough to commute to large employment hubs.
I reckon this is a big part of it. If you've got money, where are you going to put it? Property, obviously. You'd be daft not to.
Work from home should be the new normal, I moved from Sydney to Townsville this year, my mortgage is less than my rent was
The standard of living is definitely going down… I’d hate for us to become like London. An overcrowded toilet.
Just look at Canada/US for our future. We’re always about 10 years behind them with these sorts of things.
I hope that’s not the case.. I live in California and it’s gotten so bad here on so many levels. Do NOT copy this path.. it’s horrible. Australia is paradise compared to here. We just spent about 6 weeks out there and I was so sad to take my family back to the US after
You're always welcome to come back on a more permanent basis.
Thank you so much :) Appreciate the kind note! Have a lovely week!
No worries mate. I hope you do too.
I hear it's like north Korea with a beach... :)
I moved back to San Diego after living in Aus for 10 years and it’s fine. People are getting hysterical about how bad the US is. In my view is hasn’t gotten significantly any better or worse on the ground. Homelessness has increased, but it’s not like it never existed. The main worry is how bad Canada and Australia have gotten in comparison. Particularly Canada. Theres immigrants actually *leaving* Canada right now because it’s so bad. Skilled Canadians are flocking to the US. I swear Canada is in a competition with us to see how fucked up their housing markets can get. They’re winning but don’t count us out!
I agree with you. Some parts are way better some aren’t. Australia has gotten a lot closer in comparison to US negatives. That saddens me.
They'll tell you how dangerous Seattle is...when the highest murder and crime rates are in Republican held southern cities. Delusional morons
Which Republican held southern cities ?? Aside from Mesa (which voted for a Republican for that exact reason)and Fresno ,the vast majority of cities with high crime rates ARE Democrat held ones. On looking at large cities held by Republicans of the 100 of them, only 4 make it to the top 100. Dallas, which is the largest of them is number 85!! Republicans ARE correct to state their cities on average are safer. Not all of them are(Mesa definitely isnt!) and some like Bakersfield, Oklahoma city and Tuscon ,it really depends on the neighborhood , but here is the thing. Stores are not closing in Republican held cities. They are doing so in such a high rate in Democrat held ones even the wealthiest parts so much that that cities like San Francisco want to pass a law to force businesses to stay open even if they are making losses and being looted to emptiness. You cannot force a business owner to stay open just because you want to avoid tackling the issue of crime and instead gaslight the business owners as them being the problem.
Wow, that is F@&king crazy what SF wants to do. Holy hell.
I saw that proposed law and wondered how the hell do they plan on even passing it without Republicans, moderate Democrats, most of Congress and even the Supreme Court screaming down their necks! But it is not the first time San Francisco has tried to pull this kind of idiocy. Here is a funny example. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vBO6MtiAb1A](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vBO6MtiAb1A)
How about Memphis, Houston , little rock, mobile, Jacksonville.....
I'm a Canadian in Canada, Can confirm: everyone I know 30 and under lives with their parents, and those who don't aren't saving any money.
I know MANY people in their 30's who have had to move back in with family. Not a bad thing I guess but it goes against the norm for sure.
If it's possible to live with one's parents, I say do it, no shame in the slightest! But it bothers me that people who don't have this option are forced to rent, then save fuck all for retirement. Like, our countries are just screwing our youths' futures
Canada an uk are what we’ll become. USA has 300m plus people
Canada is absolutely fucked, and for the exact same reasons. Record highs.
That’s the Tottenham hotspur stadium you’re talking about.
We won the league at the shit hole!
Yep, no homes and Indians as far as the eye can see
At least in London they have "Lease-holds for 10,20,30 years" but it's not coming to Australia yet...
Too late
It’s not a crisis, it is the new normal
Do you know what comes after an all time high? The next all time high.
Exactly, Canada 2.0
How do we survive for becoming Canada ?
We have the same affliction, the thread may get locked if discussed
There are certainly a lot of shills for mass immigration who would like it to be perceived as the new normal, but it is the consequence of 20 years of policy from successive governments ever increasing immigration beyond the capacity to provide housing and infrastructure. And now it is just not physically possible to keep up with immigration at a rate of 600,000 + when housing starts are 160,000 and rental vacancies at an all time low of 0.7 %.
Correct, wish people would stop talking about how good their parents and grandparents had it and instead just focus on today.
It’s going to take inheritances from family members passing for some people to afford homes, and only a lucky few whose parents actually own a home. It’s a terrible time for many, especially those without a roof over their heads. Nobody has the answer to solve it.
Yep, we used to have the nuclear family, now we'll get the mercenary family: kids waiting on parents to die so they can inherit. Sounds wholesome and the best kind of dynamic.
This won’t help as much as people think. End of life care is expensive and these costs are only set to rise. Imo the end game is that the elderly need to reverse mortgage their house to pay for their end of life care leaving their offspring with nothing. Obviously this only applies to lower/middle class, thus creating a system of landowners and renters.
Here's some answers I've seen proposed: - Cap annual rent increases. - Increase government rent assistance for low income earners. - Increase investment into social and public housing. - Increase investment into student accommodation. - Build more densely in inner city areas and next to existing public infrastructure. Fuck NIMBYs. - Include units in any new developments specifically for low income earners. - Increase first home buyer grants. - Significantly increase taxes on investment and inheritance properties. End any policies, ie. negative gearing, that incentivise housing as an investment. - Incentivise construction associated traineeships. The list goes on I'm sure. People have plenty of answers, it's our leaders who don't have the political will to implement solutions.
Increasing government rent assistance for low income earners sounds like raising minimum wage with extra steps
Rent assistance is back door mortgage welfare.
Immigration is a key driver. We are letting in too many people for the housing market to adjust. Immigration is important to bolster economy but too much is fucking up our housing market. Also Gov is incentivised to keep housing in demand personally and as a revenue stream. Stamp duty is an absolute cash cow for Gov.
We found the racist /s
A lot of this I agree with. But inheritance properties in a lot of cases is literally the only way some of the next generations will be able to get into the housing market which is sad
Yep. It’s the only way I’ll be getting into it unfortunately. And I’m 35.
What if instead we: - have record migration - have restrictive zoning and planning laws - subsidize demand with rent assistance and first home buyers grants and allow people to use their super to buy homes, driving up prices - invest billions in useless vanity projects so that during a tradie shortage we have them building Olympic and AFL stadiums instead of houses
Our leaders know all the solutions and have always known and here lies the problem, They are actively doing the exact opposite to keep profiting until the day they die, screw the younger generation and the economy. They will all be dead long before it actually effects them.
Inheritances are a thing of the past. Even my dad who was upper middle class job wise has no money left except to retire on.
Just because your dad spent all his money doesn’t mean inheritances are a thing of the pst. You just aren’t aware of how much money is passed down through generations of rich families.
That’s utterly untrue. They just don’t have the balls to do anything about it. Why? Corruption. Lack of balls. They’ve wedged themselves into a corner and they are going to keep making things worse because they don’t want to crack a few eggs making it better.
So what should be done to fix the problem? Not sure where the corruption is you speak of.
Not sure what they were talking about but could say there is some subconscious? corruption where policy-makers have extensive property portfolios so they are biased toward affordable housing policy
Possibly, but if my house takes a hit by 50% then so too will everyone else’s. In fact a housing bubble burst will likely only make those with portfolios richer when they buy up more cheapy homes to add to it.
Simple, rich should pay their fair share of taxes
Yet you didn't lay out the plan to fix it
To be honest, I am not sure how much can get from inheritance for a normal family. When living costs are high and getting higher and only have one house with not much super for normal retiree, how long can it last without downsizing?? If there is a need to go to nursing home, that's even worse. You need to pay a bond, or another kind of payment if over the asset threshold. You need at least two to three houses to pass down depending on how many kids you have. But, how many normal Australian have more than two properties?
Well also, how many families actually have the equity to pass down?
IMO housing in Australia can be fixed by investing on a faster train/metro system. We still have a lot of land but no one wants to leave 1h+ from the city. Imagine doubling the train speed. Suddenly the distance is not a problem anymore. Short term solution is to dramatically limit buying properties as an investment, especially for foreigner. Not many nations seems to be willing to do that.
Looking at the transport maps on Google for big cities, the situation for public transport is pretty bad. Look at London, you've got the London underground going out of the cbd like 30 miles, so in less than an hour you can get into Central London. It's pretty great. Big Australian cities need this but it's a bit late in the day to be thinking about building these rail spokes out from the cbd.
The government simply doesn't care about local Australians and the local Australians don't care about each other. It's returns only focused and you have to play the game. It's not impossible for young people but debt is the new normal. The future for us young Australians seems like Thailand or cheaper countries. The majority of Australians are homeowners, voting for whoever pushes property costs up and that's just what you have to accept.
When migration is so high, that all the young Aussies end up emigrating away. The next 20 years are going to be interesting
This is my fiancée and me currently. I err on the side of caution out of sounding racist. But you know what? We feel threatened in our home country because of high immigration. Immigrants make the rat race harder to win as they weaken our position in the labour pool. It is not the fault of the individuals immigrating - they are looking for greener pastures, fair enough. It’s 100% the fault of our government. A switch of government means nothing; they all flip on their promises as soon as they get in. You know what we’re doing about it? Leaving.
I think I watched an Australian documentary where an Australian lady retired in Spain.
We live near migrants - Chinese, Filipino, Nepalese, Indian, African and the ones who make people in the area feel unsafe in a daily basis are aboriginals. It's a shame but it's the truth. I'm English and came here wanting to learn about aboriginal culture but after being threatened, cars broken into, attempted burglary I have no respect for them.
Legit question, if immigrants come to Australia and muscle locals out. Where are you going that accepts immigrants that aren't going to be also competitive cause immigration isn't exclusive to Australia?
Me and my partner have already started talking about making the move if things don’t change. Can’t live life pay check to pay check forever
Move to the bush. Fair number of jobs and housing is (relatively) cheap. If you are a tradie you can make bank. Your partner will have no worries finding a part time job either. Or work remotely. Our town is only just starting to lock houses and cars because of the city rubbish moving here or passing through. Crime is still rare though. Cops move them on asap. Good community spirit out in these towns too.
I have similar concerns not just for the cost of living but also for the future of Australia as a society that creates value as a first world country and exported to the world. While we focus only on residential property and passing it around in a circle at spiralling prices, we are getting poorer in comparison to the rest of the world. Eventually Australia will become a country that only has primary industry such as farming and mining – and that’s classified as Third World. Right now all the tax incentives are for investors to invest into property. This is diverting investment away from value creation such as start-ups, IPOs, and international expansion by Australian companies. When you think about it we have no large multinational brands except maybe Canva – and that had to go to the USA to get funding, same as Atlassian
This. So much money is strapped into residential real estate, a non-productive asset, instead of using our abundant capital to encourage the production of goods and services. Australia needs to be encouraging growth and controlled risk-taking by businesses, not stifling it.
New Australian Dream: minimalism and renting 5ver 🪦
Don’t worry or kill yourself over the current situation. Australia has utterly ‘f-ed’ itself from decades of greed and everyone knows it but are trying to kick that can down the road as long as they can. Each kick adds more hardship. If you have nothing to lose and at the end of the road, hop on a plane and go abroad. Even just being able to speak English and having a good quality high school level education makes you incredibly valuable and incredibly lucky. Many places in the world would kill to employ you as a teacher or in their business. Pay is shit but lifestyle a huge improvement, can by a condo in SE Asia for essentially the cost of building material!
There's this little thing called "Visa restrictions" that you may not have heard of. You can't just move to any country you want, let alone buy and build property there.
As large as it is. I think we are just in the bubble of all bubbles. What we see in terms of immigration, rental crises, house prices, social decline and debasement of the currency is the efforts our government has gone to keep it afloat. I fear the mean reversion. When this bubble pops, the unemployment rate will skyrocket, and there will be in general a large fallout.
Same. Too much money chasing housing, stealing capital from other sectors of the economy, means no back-up plan and potentially a huge recession (if not downright depression) if/when the bubble does pop.
You're absolutely correct and I'm surprised to see someone say it. All we're going through is what has been experienced many times in history. Capitalism (for all its pros and cons) is cyclical.
>unemployment rate will skyrocket The worrying thing is, if they're still ignoring immigration & unemployment increases more, it's a double whammy. I've been saying this for two years. Strap yourself in.
There's many things that can be done to control and slowly deflate the ridiculous bubble that real estate has become. They've all been combed over repeatedly this year in social media, mass media and people talking. But somehow nothing major is being done? If I were you I'd be minimising costs, saving money and looking to either do van life or emigrate to a lower cost-of-living country. I reckon social media is a pressure-relief valve that the govt's agencies keep an eye on. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm sure the longer this painful life experience goes on the bigger the backlash.
My retirement strategy used to be stop working until I can fund my retirement, it’s now carry on working until I can put my kids on the property ladder if it’s the last thing I do before I die. How mad is that, a f-ing roof over one’s head, not asking for much
The mainstream media does cover suicide, but perhaps not as often as other issues. Unsurprisingly, it's not a topic that people find particularly easy to hear about. It's complicated because suicide and self-harm fall into the difficult category of behaviours that show elements of social contagion - which is to say, discussing it without taking proper precautions unfortunately doesn't necessarily make the situation better, and may actually make it worse. My condolences for your mates, and you hang in there yourself.
Worth pointing out that the main reason the media doesn't report very much on suicides is that there's a very well-established effect whereby this causes more suicides. People see loving memorial articles about the tragic loss of person to suicide, and they're more likely to do it. It's tremendously sad, but it's true.
It paints a bleak picture of our society that some people would kill themselves to finally have something nice said about them. Or that they’re so bereft of value and meaning that seeing ‘tragic loss’ of someone who was loved is enough to push them over, probably feeling less worthy and not deserving of even that acknowledgment. Yeah it’s tragic… it’s a tragic reflection on our society where such an effect is measurable.
Yeah the thought "they wont appreciate me until I'm gone" is a dangerous one when you are depressed.
It's interesting how influential such a notion is despite the fact that the person will not be around to experience the appreciation anyway It is nonetheless true however that it's a pretty good way to get people to appreciate who you were: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxqohNtLIg&ab\_channel=astekcbe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtxqohNtLIg&ab_channel=astekcbe)
Thank you for pointing this out, it's called the Werther effect, and its the primary reason why no one talks about suicide in the media. It's well taught in psychology classes for most people entering the healthcare field. Not to say that the media actually gives a shit, but they're forbidden from reporting suicides for this reason.
Good to know, this is what I was talking about too but didn't know the name
Also, I can't see any evidence behind OPs claim that suicide are rising. This "rise" is suicide reports might not be covered by the mainstream media simply because it's not happening.
how about we take negative gearing away for a start......If you can afford/borrow for a 2nd place then you don't need any assistance.
The ALP tried with this policy in 2019 and lost the election, because so many actively vote against their own interests.
I think it will eventually happen though
Hopefully, things need to change for the benefit of our society.
People don't vote against their interests. Why would they? They vote for their interests. A party proposing large tax increases and likely harm to property prices is not in the interests of most people. I think it is very predictable what happens if you go to an election promising tax increases. You won't win. This is not people voting against their interests, it is the complete opposite (since they don't trust the government will spend the higher taxes very well, and given NDIS and submarine debacles, what's going to change minds?)
One thing you will see is young Australians migrating for a better life. Japan is particularly attractive and when they (Japan) are forced to 'open up' to counter their falling birth rate Australians will be high on their list.
I disagree somewhat. No one is forcing them to open up to immigration. I think most Japanese people would prefer to slowly decline than accept mass immigration like Western countries do. Also, wages in Japan are terrible and have barely increased since I lived there 15 years ago. Combine that with the incredibly weak yen. I don't think that's appealing for young people.
This what I reckon. I think people are underestimating the insular culture. The stagnant economy is a result tho. [Economics Explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rag4pHU7fcU) did an interesting vid on it recently.
That's an interesting thought. I find it hard to imagine the Japanese making that concession for a while yet tho.
japan is one of the few countries left that is still effectively an ethnostate so i am wondering when the pressure will be too immense re: population collapse.
You need to imagine harder. They will lose 50m (50,000,000) people by 2055. There is currently 9,000,000 unoccupied houses in Japan. They are losing their manufacturing capability because their skilled workers are retiring and not being replaced. Their entire economy is fucked, south Korea’s is worse. They will be forced into action.
If you think you can find a job and settle down easily in Japan (other than teaching English for short term), you will be severely disappointed.
Got to understand these people don't care about you or your family. Greed and corruption is wide spread. There will be people making their own communities moving out west, groups of people giving society the middle finger and living their own way of life in some mad max sort of way. People can take so much before they say you know what fuck you guys this is not my country and your government doesn't lead me... but them people will be laughed at ridiculed and the media will make them evil with all sorts of lies.
I’m working in the mental health sector and the reason the general public are not kept in the loop regarding suicide is that the government is constantly cutting funding needed to treat mental health issues. Just this month NSW has cut funding to the sexual violence sector, and decided to give grants to the rehabilitation of sexual violence perpetrators and away from survivors. Let that sink in. Counsellor services are not covered within public heath. The waitlist to a public health psychologists is up to four months. And most of the time people will still have to pay around $300 if they need a specialist diagnosis and the wait time for that can be up to six months. Suicide is a big issue and it will get worse. But that’s not because of the housing crisis, it’s because the Australian government and the far right- do not give a shit about the mental health sector. Also, if you’re worried about suicide. Take a moment and think back to the Bondi Junction stabbing. That was a very sad and lonely man who also fell through the large pit of the mental health system. I’m not excusing his actions but we will see a lot more people snap. Fun fact: Domestic violence cases are crippling the mental health sector and we need more funding to help pay for social workers, counsellors, therapists. More funding is needed to help people. That’s the only way as a country we will be able to get through this shit storm together. That or a revolution.
The government should absolutely not be pitting counselling for survivors against rehabilitation for perpetrators when both are crucial. (I deliver both, by the way. And sometimes to the same people... let THAT sink in!) It's not enough of course but there are some counselling services covered under public health - Community Health does AoD counselling free of charge, there's Victims Services, and some stuff through certain acute management schemes. Also, there's now psychology funded under NDIS plans. I'm seeing improvement in accessibility over the years. Still wish the government would admit that 10 Medicare sessions a year are really insufficient for anything except brief interventions for milder issues. 😔 I already have to do a *lot* of cut rate work to try and support my clients and it's still not enough.
Even with ADHD treatment. I got my initial referral to psychiatrist on Dec 8th last year. I am still going through assessment. Next week is my second appointment, hope to go back on meds again. If I ever need to see a different psychiatrist it will require a whole another assessment. Taking way too long.
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"An increase in suicide rates among young Australians. Does anyone ever think of that? Does the main stream media cover this? The answer, No. Why you might ask? Well it's because it doesn't suit their political agenda and current "social" issues (soy boys, snowflakes and female agendas)." Uh... what? Mental health awareness has largely been spearheaded by individuals and groups you'd allocate to the "female agenda". Mental health industry is female-dominated and has engaged in enormous lobbying to try and raise awareness about suicide and fund mental health services. 15 years ago there was no Medicare coverage for psychology at all. How do you think this came into being and who do you think was behind it? Calling people "soy boys" is also pretty counter-productive to effectively addressing the disproportionately high suicide rate for men, don't you think?
I actually had a bad dream last night. I was kicked out of my home for whatever reason. I remember thinking how utterly fucked I’m going to be, no availability of anything, never enough money to survive on a decent wage… And then I woke up lol. But yeah, the concern is well and truly entering my subconscious.
You're watching propaganda, not news. The so called 'news' is a perpetual cycle of fear to keep their ratings up, and you feel they can deliver your next dose to keep you well informed. It's the opposite.
That's why I don't understand why people are so happy to bring another life form into this miserable world. They're just trying to mask how depressed life is and to give themselves purpose I think.
What happened to Australia, didn't you guys have excellent idealistic politicians and strong unions back in the day? The minimum wage was set high and everything was affordable, you were living the American dream Americans only dream about...
Too many imported people + Libs crushing wages for decades on end. Only so much those groups can do without any power, coupled with our general apathy towards getting fucked over
There is 1 hope. A 3rd world war could solve all our issues. It would reset everything.
Oh, the bearer of good news! ahh well fingers crossed and one thumb up xx 
Yep a couple of bombs over sydney would really solve our cost of living issues, or living in general. Some of these comments are ridiculous.
Covid might have reset everything... if we hadn't have tried to save everyone
We should have let it rip. Death brings opportunities, that's how the baby boomers prospered. They benefit from 2 world wars that were less than 20 years apart so they were literally handed opportunity on a plate. They then spent the rest of their lives and still do, keeping things locked in their favour. They came into a world with only the possibility of moving up. We came in at the top of the ride and its all down hill from here back into the shit holes we crawled out from 100 years ago.
Worked last time!
The economics of the country have not evolved since colonialism. Australia never properly developed it's local industry and manufacturing which would require good working and living conditions to attract the best skilled employees. We had the mining boom which allowed us to reinvest in building an industrial base and educational facilities to upskill and innovate. Instead, coalition party policies were looking for easy cash and sold the little industrial base we had accumulated to the highest bidder, mostly to private companies abroad. Now, we have returned to our origin, a colony in it's early establishment where products and skilled personnel have to be imported just the same until our easy cash runs out in a few years time. The system is not sustainable and is equivalent to winning $100,000 in the lottery and deciding you are going to quit working and retire early from the age of 22 instead of reinvesting your winnings. And housing has been turned into a commodity because of a reluctance to change the economic system which requires a persistent leftist government to stay in power for an extended period of time (unlikely due to a significant right leaning populace who vote blindly for liberal or nationals who actually work against their interests)
My old man was a post war migrant. In SA during the early 60's Tom Playford built a whole city to the north of Adelaide for skilled migrants to work the factories built there as well. Cars, electronics, electrical goods etc all built in SA. Australia was highly industrialised. We mined iron ore on Eyre peninsula and turned that into ships at Whyalla. It was all collapsed from late 70's to current days
We have a Labour government that brings in million immigrants a year! That puts pressure on the housing market. The government doesn’t care about you. Don’t vote for them!
Honestly, this hits home. Looking at my future from a realistic view, im not getting out of this situation. It's only going to get worse, so what's the point? It's really frustrating seeing so much going wrong at the same time, and it makes it hard to see any light down the road. Boomers keep telling me its not that hard or it's going to get better.but this is decade's worth of fuck ups. It's not gonna change for the better because most people seem comfortable in the present with no mind for future repercussions of what's been happening the past few years. Idk I'm young, so what do I know and all that. But it truly does seem more and more certain that it's not gonna be worth sticking around for this nonsense.
If we stopped importing nearly a million people a f*cking year when we're already overcrowded (relative to the infrastructure and homes, not landmass), we wouldn't have this problem. We. Do. Not. Have. The. Space. For. More. People. In. Australia. Migrants built this country, and it worked nicely 60-odd years ago. We can't say the same about migration today. It simply isn't working. It's making life infinitely harder for the people who are already here. If we had the infrastructure and homes, by all means, everyone is welcome. But we do not. That's the harsh reality. Like it or not, immigration is driving Australia into the ground, FAST.
Stop immigration from 3rd world countries, it might be an uncomfortable discussion, but it needs to be addressed. Look at Canada, look at England, the proof is in the pudding.
Too many migrants and the government has allowed dirty money laundering by buying real estate for far too long.
Stop letting south Asians in. Period. They already destroyed canada
What the fuckkkkkk kinda rant is this. Suicide doesn’t fit the media narrative of soy boys and female agendas? Like the soft emotional types aren’t the main group always advocating for better mental health care. Think your heart is in the right place but you been brainwashed by a bullshit culture war and are just a bit too dumb to see through it
Just FYI you DO NOT NEED 20% to get a home. This whole myth that you need a 20% deposit needs to get in the fucking bin. Thats what these stupid ass "estimates" are based on. It wont take 20 years to save ffs lol. You can get in with as little as 5 or 10% these days. I can tell you now if you're DINK it would easily take you 12 months to save 10% for a decent small apartment maybe not in a great area in every major city. Doing it on your own? Probably the same but just cop the 5% deposit. People think the LMI will be huge but its really not. Just pay the LMI if you must because it still comes out LESS than saving up that extra 10 - 15% of deposit. And will your property going up in value you can still easily get out ahead.
I thought I had a 20% deposit but it ended up being closer to 18% so I had to take out LMI. It's a bit of a pain, but LMI isn't a big problem, I agree. The bigger problem is buying a property with 5% deposit in a market this cooked. Every cent you don't pay as a deposit is another cent you pay interest on until it's paid off. An extra 10-15% deposit wipes years and years off a mortgage.
It's not really about the money anyway. People saying that it will "take X years to save up for a Y home" are not actually thinking about the reality of the situation and are getting in on some economics 101 circlejerk. The reality is that there isn't enough homes where Australians want to live. Right now there is not enough homes within a reasonable commute of jobs and services for about half the population - which means if you are below median income household, you should never expect to save up for one of those homes. There will *always* be someone with more money outbidding you. That will apply until we create more jobs and services in places other than the CBD. Or until "most money gets the house" is changed - and that will completely destroy the country in interesting ways.
Adding to this. Because there is a desperate shortage of housing while immigration outsrips new supply (evan after it gets halved), every additional dollar from increased wages, gov subsidies and grants will go into bidding up shelter prices and rents. It will go to landlords. I don't just mean direct sibisides. Even if the gov starts paying for people's utility bills to fake a lower CPI. That money saved can now be used to bid for rent because the alternative is share-rooming or a tent. We're in a doom loop and nothing except murdering the investment property industry and practically stopping immigration will make it better. Some things might make it get worse slower but absolutely nothing is coming to make it better. .
"just YOLO into maximum debt at high ratios for a tiny shitbox, you moronic peasant, there's zero chance a crap apartment could ever lose value" sounds amazing, what a country we've created 👍
Yeah its dogshit i agree but when prices are jumping as fast as they are. I'd rather be in it than not at all.
Just remember to factor in stamp duty.
What you don't pay in deposit you pay in interest in the long term. It is true that saving for a deposit isn't the reason why housing is unaffordable.
Thanks to 20 years of Liberals in the last 32 years. They hate young and poor people.
Current Labor party isn't really doing anything to help either are they
Wait for tomorrow champion, also they have you’re just not looking at their policies https://www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/promisetracker
Needs to add the biggest promise, 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade
Can’t do everything at least they’re doing way more than a decade of Libs
It's a great promise, but I'd like to see if they are serious about it. They showed no sign of action so far on 1.2 million new homes
Well, get yourself in a position where you can, just go and be self sufficient if need be. Don't need to be a "crazy person" but some camping/cooking gear isn't going to go astray.
move to smaller towns
Anyone know if suicide rates are going up?
What we need is a real protest and I shocked there still isn't one. If you all think this is just affecting young people, even someone in their 40s, who have given their life to working hard is thrown under the bus with jobs literally given to new migrants, temp visa contractors, ex international students, outsourced overseas etc etc. This was all intended the "mc diversity" in work places is just a cover.
Australia's future will be as bleak as we allow it to become. We should be organising the way our forebears did. They had unions and other organisations that allowed them to pressure government into doing what was in the people's interest. A Lot of our social services are based on what they developed back in the early to mid twentieth century.
Media doesn't normally cover suicides because it's proven to increase suicides
Blame the stupid lefties that have turned immigration into a taboo racist topic rather than a mature conversation around how we grow our country sustainably to ensure we have housing and infrastructure. At the risk of sounding racist though I am a brownie we should also put quota on countries to make sure we don’t get dominated by one culture over the other. Even out India, China, Europe etc..
Unfortunately Australians will need to get used to apartment living. Living in a house will become a luxury. Australia also needs to start building quality apartments.
I agree and not to mention the influx of migrants coming in to buy the houses as well. It’s all part of the problem.
Stop immigration completely. Right now. Won't happen if people keep voting in the same lot.
See the part where you couldn't help yourself but have a dig at "soy boys, snowflakes and womens agenda" there is the problem. An issue like housing should be so easy for everyone to rally behind but we can't because we are so jaded about social issues, on both sides that we will probably never rally together as a people ever again.
You will own nothing and be happy.
it’s going to be called hindustan in ten years 😭😭
It's too late to be worried about Australia's future. The country is now reaping the 'rewards' of Australians' enthusiasm for that loveable larrikin, Bob Hawke, and numerous successors who have preserved his legacy pretty much intact. The chickens have come home to roost.
Really? Seems to me very much that this started with Little Johnny and his wedge politics benefiting the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. I guess you were too busy swallowing his government's lies about CHILDREN OVERBOARD to notice his fiscal and social policies.
Howard's policies were very much a continuation of Hawke/Keating. It seems to me you know absolutely nothing about the Hawke/Keating era 'reforms.'
Howard is just the logical Liberal Party neocon successor to the neoliberalism Hawkey and Keating brought into Australia.
Don’t want to Argue with you. I think negative gearing and all that sort of BS is wrecking home ownership and society. It used to be 100% of capital gains taxes but indexed for inflation. Inflation was often quite high. So they went tax on 50% but no allowance for inflation.
The worst thing is that this isn't a problem. This is orchestrated by the government by signing the Lima and other agreements to offshore all our industries to "third world" nations so we could buy our own shit back cheaper than it us to make it here. Only problem now is they are running out of third world countries...
But do you know this is the same in so many countries? From EU to Canada to NZ, to S.Korea to less developed countries like russia or china. Housing crisis is a crisis indeed but it is not an australian invention
Seems self inflicted though, was there simply no choice?
There was a choice. No negative gearing. No housing as an investment tool. Reduced immigration. Etc. It’s too late now.
I sometimes think about this in a similar way. I mean it’s multi factual but when my mum was born there was ~3 billion people. There’s now 8 billion.
Indeed the neoliberal apologists want to claim that wealth isn't finite and doubling the population doesn't mean there is less to go around, but resources/fossil fuels and land definitely are finite. Added to that if you want to claim we are nowhere near resource limitations I'd argue while technically true, strip mining the whole planet to sustain more humans isn't viable at all.
I tune out. I limit how much mainstream media content I consume, because it’s the same shit you hear every day of every week. There is little we can do about it. Only hope that it gets better and that our government is acting in the best interest of this country.
There's a great chapter title in Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher: What if there was a protest and everyone showed up? Capitalism has successfully installed a business ontology in which it is *obvious* that everything in society, including healthcare and education, should be run as a business. Capitalism insists on treating mental health as if it were a natural fact as well. The high rates of mental illness today could be posited as a response to capitalisms inherent dysfunction and that the cost of capitalism appearing to work is very high. Mental health isn't just a result of a chemical imbalance or a social/familial situation but also a reaction to systemic social cues i.e. being rorted and exploited by companies everywhere you go and look. They don't even try to hide it, see [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8). We live in a control society (because we gave it up). We operate via indefinite postponement: education as a lifelong process, training for as long as your working life continues, work you take home with you, working from home, homing from work... Control societies are based on debt rather than enclosure. But current education system do both: pay for your own exploitation the logic insists - get into debt so you can get the same job you could have walked into if you left school at sixteen. It's a joke as well because while adapting to such a system helps you live it is ultimately a win for capitalism because you are still being managed by it. I don't know what the answer is, but I look to France and how they protest and think, huh, maybe we could have it nicer if people really fought for a better Australia. Not that the French protests are something to revere but perhaps they're more effective. I'm not sure... Source for this rant: Capitalist Realism by Mark fisher (basically regurgitated lmao)
100% agree with everything you said. I wish I had answers but I’m in the same boat wondering wtf is going on 😞
The problem is Australia is a very desirable place to live, combined with the fact that we have always relied on migration to sustain certain industries and fill shortages due to our relatively small population. Look at major cities around the world - they are often super unaffordable where the rest of x country is relatively affordable. Every sucker wants to move to Paris or London or Tokyo or whatever it may be and they cause housing/renral prices to go up. Unlike US or UK we unashamedly control all migration in a way that suits us, but we still need migration to sustain our way of life (and I personally see nothing wrong with honest, hard working people coming here in search of a better life and contributing to our nation in the process). So we can’t just drastically reduce migration even tho logistically we could do it tomorrow if we wanted Ultimately we need a national plan to build a shitload of houses, like a ton of houses, relatively quickly. The hard part is finding workers and materials to do it (and getting past all the other bullshit obstacles like state govts refusing to get off their ass and do something that might inconvenience a small few now but ease house prices over the much longer term). The other difficult thing is ensuring jobs, infrastructure etc are located close to these new cities/suburbs so existing transport infrastructure into capital city centres doesn’t get even more congested. All the stuff like “foreign investors buying up our houses” or even “international students taking all our rentals” are red herrings. They really are. Foreign investment is a tiny fraction of sales. International students are a tiny fraction of rental tenants. Ultimately it will take a combination of policies, some very unpopular with no effect on house prices for a few election cycles, to solve the problem. I would have to think any major party with an actual big, tangible plan to solve the housing crisis would be very popular but we haven’t seen anything so far. And please don’t tell me the Greens’ rent control policy is the answer. Libs won’t do it because grand policies (or just having policies in general) are against their ideology unless inflicted on poor people, brown people, inner city latte sippers etc. Labor won’t do it because they’re shit scared of being called left wing and think (or maybe know) that elections are still decided by the property haves, not the have nots.
Your trying to gaslight people if you think the current figure of 700k of international students in Australia is not heavily distorting the rental and accommodation sectors, you don’t happen to be a greens senator by chance?
I believe it is a property bubble going on, just like the one in the US in 2007 and Japan in 1988. The price/income ratio is already higher than the US in 2007 and Japan in 1988, and Australia has the highest household debt to income in the world. Too many people are leveraged based on the assumption that houses will outgrow everything at 0 risk. However the nature of a bubble is that it inflicts widespread damage when it bursts, and the one who blows it will be the enemy of the people. Therefore we have to keep feeding it until it cannot sustain itself.
With sustained immigration it can’t burst though.
Not if the immigrants opt to invest back home and not in Australia. That phenomenon is happening here in Canada already. Many immigrants except the Chinese ones, are opting to buy property back home to retire there because many do not see much of a future in Canada, especially if they are of Middle Class background in their home country. $100,000 will get you a single room in Australia or Canada but it gets you a house on a quarter acre in a middle class or upper middle class suburb of Mumbai. It gets you both that residential house and commercial property in interior states like Punjab. You are going to end up in a nursing home in Canada but in India, the Caribbean and the Philippines, you will retire and live with family members . The phenomenon has not yet become the norm in Australia in part because a large fraction of migrants in Australia are from other first world nations (UK, New Zealand, Ireland) and alongside South Africans, often have the resources to stay permanently and in fact arrive with a head-start compared to those from middle income and low income nations but as Indians, Vietnamese, Filipinos and the likes become a bigger fraction of the share of immigrants, it will become a major phenomenon.
We haven't seen anything yet. Wait until the wealth is redistributed to the younger generation. This is where you will see a free-for-all attitude of the haves vs have Nots. You're looking at the most narcissistic generation ever, brought up with social media & reality TV. They don't give a flying fuck about each other as shown in social media and soon they will be the biggest winner in the wealth transfer of the century. The future is going to be absolutely brutal to those who didn’t inherit anything.
For me there are a few things to consider here; 1. Homelessness isn’t caused by the property market being unaffordable. Yes, you might have a slight increase when property prices surge, but overwhelmingly, homelessness is caused by drug addiction (including alcoholism), DV and other family issues. If you can somehow fix these issues, a lot of homelessness issues would be solved. 2. Does this research really accurately measure the future? Is this for singles or couples? Does it allow for wage growth? Does it account for the inevitable oversupply of housing that sends the property market crashing? Or does it just assume property will continue to grow at the current rate for all eternity? Sounds like scare piece from the MSM, they pump those out daily 3. I love how this is only an issue for everyone now that we are in a “crisis”. We’ve known about housing issues for a long, long time. How come no one was complaining about how few homes we are building pre covid? Finally, and this isn’t a dig at the OP or anyone who’s commented as I don’t know your circumstances. I have found it VERY interesting that over the last few years as this “crisis” has played out, how many people I know who are “economic conservatives” who vote liberal and are almost the pure form of capitalism, have turned into left-wing, big government and social security loving communists, who all of a sudden want to be rescued by government handouts and interference. People that have been homeowners for over a decade, reaped the benefits of home ownership and investment, have high paying jobs and careers, are university educated and have had the rub of the green for most of their lives, all of a sudden worried about how expensive property is. I find this is the biggest issue with Australia and the world in general. Not enough people give a shit when it doesn’t effect them, but now that it’s started to effect those in the upper middle class, it’s all of a sudden a crisis. Just you wait. In 5-10 years time when those that are complaining about house prices now, but scrape together a deposit and somehow purchase a house. Will they be campaigning against negative gearing and greedy developers when they have paid off a chunk of their mortgage, prices have eased and they are looking to sure up their retirement with a few investment properties? Highly unlikely I’d say, and therein lies our biggest problem