Why not just rent? Isn't it common in other countries for years and it is never a problem?
Edit:
Thank you all for your reply. I think it is now clear that it is not a problem.
Is Housing Affordability Really a Problem?
[Deactivated] on 22/09/2020 - 17:33
Last edited 22/09/2020 - 22:28
Last edited 22/09/2020 - 22:28
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If you can't afford housing, do things so your children can afford it.
If you think your children can't afford it, work with your children so their children can afford it.
It might take time but It'll work out eventually, just maybe not in your lifetime. Life is about your children and their children, and their children…etc..
One could say that not having children might increase the chances of affording a house.
Anyway, not very motivational to think that we need two generations to make housing affordable.
Scenario 1: You don't have kids and can afford housing -> Great outcome, problem solved for you as an individual.
Scenario 2: You don't have kids but can't afford housing -> back to my initial comment.If everyone could stop and consider that life is more than just themselves, I think everyone would be happier in general.
Sure it may not happen in your lifetime, but life continues.
When I graduated from university, I bought myself a $350k 1-br apartment about 30km from Sydney CBD. Back then people said that is a crazy price. But now it is worth almost double.
With the same salary then, I wouldn't be possibly afford the same property now. But there are options although much further away from the CBD and worse conditions.
I think rather than hoping for the same property to drop in price, it is better if the government help people to purchase/share a property together.
Also some laws with renters may need some changing. If renter have lived there for years and years, they should be allowed more than 30 days notice. This would benefit LL as well.
The government needs to stop inflating prices first.
I am a big supporter of coop properties, or community owned communities. the land managing itself and people being there in harmony.
No if you go rural Australia, actually houses in Australia are pretty cheap, very cheap, it's the CBD hubs of Australia that are way way waaaay over priced, and a reluctancy of people moving rural…
Word of wise, marry a Canadian or something and buy into a different market, because if your not keen on moving out to outer regions, maybe try another country… 🤗 No really the prices might be better, and change is good.
I'll go rural, don't know about another country. It's not that I don't think it'll be fun or anything but I was born and raised here so I would like to contribute rather than bugger off when I think there's a problem. Nothing gets done that way.
Actually no offense to females in Australia, no really, it's just females here are aggressive and controlling in Australia, so finding someone opposite to you maybe a key motivator (that is if your single) to invest in a new region of the world…(yes risks are everywhere) You would never regret it.
No what I mean is, live in Australia, but invest in another region, and gave the best of both worlds…
Oh right, invest in another country haha. Yeah I just find that if I have enough to eat and a roof over my head I'm happy. There's more than enough resources if people just take what they need rather than what they want, greed is infinite.
Dunno much about Australian women, sorry :)
@[Deactivated]: if I have enough to eat and a roof over my head I'm happy.
Imagine that with a investment portfolio, one that isn't tainted or corrupted in Australia, one where your love is cared for, and you can continue to:
to eat and a roof over my head on both countries…
Example Canada for a rural area is much much better then rural areas of Australia(excludes costal areas, )in Asian regions especially Japan, or philipines those areas have very cheap affordable rural beautiful areas, you can stil return to Australia (at anytime, not now tho) same cannot be said for America… Unless you want guns in the street after opening the mail box.
But that can only happen if you find someone special.
Worst case scenario buy this:
https://ecoliv.com.au/bedrooms/one-bed
If I recall it's 8000 per square meter in a average measurement for building a home, that's kinda pricey…
our public transport is ratchet though
I'm pretty sure the canadian housing market is terribly inflated.
I dont think there is a problem with affordability of a house.
The problem I see is an issue in getting a house at a distance where you don’t spend 2 hours each way commuting to work. New houses are built further and further away from city but the capacity of trains/ busses/ roads/ parking spaces are not developed along with it. So either you rent at a place closer to city as buying one is too difficult at that closeby or be prepared to spend close to 3-4 hours per day commuting to and from work.
True that, but now since it may be possible to work from home continuously. People may be more inclined to buy much further away from their office.
My rent is costing me more than a mortgage would. More fool me!
Yep, if banks would consider rent paid as a component of savings in terms of loan serviceability, it would go a long way toward allowing people to buy in.
Like, if you need a $100,000 deposit, you've saved $50,000 cash, and you've spent $60,000 in rent in the prior 3 years, at the same house, on time, without being late or anything like that, I feel that you should be able to loan the 90% LVR without LMI on account of the fact that you've saved cash whilst still paying rent.
I saved the deposit myself whilst paying rent, and now that I can pay the mortgage/rates/insurance for less than my old rent, I am saving money hand over fist. Buying my 2nd property would be hands down easier than the first.
The government is bringing a new scheme, similar to the banks, death liquidation, no mortgage repayments… Either the property goes to the government and its community based i think…
I used to live in a suburb that became full of houses/townhouses owned by investors. The place is crap now. Dense housing itself might eventually be the norm due to population, but as it is places are being built deliberately to cram as many owners/tenants (i.e. dollars and sales) into an area, not because that area is designed to as there has been zero investment in the surrounding areas. Anyway to the point, the area is crap because so many people there are renters, little investment into maintaining the area, improving the properties, landscaping, etc. I mean no landlord will do that, minimum cost maintenance.
Most of the time now "affordability" = "price is too high", and the price is too high because people are jumping on for capital gains only. i.e. the price is high for the wrong reason. That Block auction a while back illustrated things so obviously; as soon as the celebrity and overseas investor were out, the sale price tanked, to probably what it should be. Housing should not be a cash cow; inner city perhaps for rental demand, but not your ol' suburban townhouse.
The house prices in Australia (especially in Sydney) are ridiculously high for a poor quality home. $1m could get you a top quality well insulated double storey house in US or Canada in a good locality but in Australia you can still keep on dreaming.
You are not comparing apples with apples. Compare with new York. And try find one with 1m.
Sydney with Vancouver is a good comparison I believe. NY and London are shit anyway.
No compare with Houston, a city with a higher population than Sydney. No city in Australia has anywhere near the density of NY.
Yeah but the people there don't earn the same income do they?
Can't just compare with the pop.
You must compare biggest city of a country with the other one.
Compare Sydney to Jakarta or new delhi for example, it's more populated yet cheaper.
Project builds are pretty crap in Australia. Many of them start oozing efflorescence after a few years.
Er… 2 hrs by public transport? Who are you trying to kid?
@[Deactivated]: 30 mins by car on google maps, probably the middle of the night though. Regardless it’s 35km from the CBD, feel free to post something similar in Sydney for a mil.
Ooof, last guy burnt $650,000 in 1 year on that place.
if it can happen in America it can definitely happen here.
House prices are correlated to the number of immigrants. The higher it goes, the higher the prices.
Uh, yeah I'm going to need for you to back that up with some actual sources and none of this correlation shit. Demonstrate how house prices rise as a result of immigration.
Yeah I don't buy that for a minute. Less than half of the migrants that come here buy a house, by a long margin. They quote the highest uptake of home ownership by migrants as Chinese at ~55% and Indian at ~39% with 34% of "other migrants".
This is the correlation codswollop I was talking about. They're talking about price rises of x% per year being somehow correlated to immigration yet their entire article hinges on "compared to if there'd been no immigration" in 10 years between 2006 and 2016.
Housing prices are affected by a huge list of different things and to attempt to frame immigration as a significant factor is just bad writing. Further, what dystopian idiocy are they attempting to manufacture as the alternate option? ZERO immigration? This isn't Germany in the 30's and 40's, immigration is a thing so to even present that as reasonable is baaaaad writing.
I guarantee that the affect of tax benefits for home ownership, the lack of discouragement of leaving a house purposefully empty to drive up demand, the accessibility of our market to overseas investors is far more responsible for house prices being so ridiculously overblown than immigration.
Here's an article outlining some other factors and you'll notice that whilst overseas investors are mentioned, jack shit is mentioned about migrants buying up property: https://blog.realestateinvestar.com.au/infographic-residenti… (it's from 5 years ago but covers major ground on how pricing got to where it is now).
@sir-screwball: Dude. Immigration per capita in Australia is double the US. You wanted sources and you got them. It is basic supply and demand. Add a million people to Sydney and you don't think house prices will go up?
Calling for the reduction of immigration doesn't make you a Nazi.
The migrants who don't buy straight away are renting and driving up rents.
Plus international students drive up prices significantly and ruin apartment complexes with their 4 bodies in one room slums.
@Emerald Owl: Ok so you're suggesting that if we limit migration options into the country, that will rectify the housing affordability issue?
@sir-screwball: You do know permanent migrants have higher salaries on average than natives?
Again, immigration has added millions of people to Sydney and Melbourne. If a million people left Sydney tomorrow, house prices would nose dive. This is the primary reason for high house prices. It is supply and demand, economic fact, not scapegoating.
House prices are not going up atm because of reduced immigration.
@sarahlump: I detest the immigrants and poor people scapegoat. I have to admit that there appears on face value to be a small element of truth to Cobalt Owl's argument but after all the engineering and taxpayer money the LNP has funneled into he housing market I cannot fathom that any more than a negligible amount of the overall bubble is reasonably attributed to immigration.
Demand?
Where is the poll? Lol
One might suggest there isn't a poll because the OP wasn't really interested in hearing anything other their own opinion.
The OP then confirms that by editing a conclusion that goes against the general consensus of the discussion.
Basically OP is a troll and/or looking for validation/confirming own biases. The wall is painted black and OP thinks it's white. OP asks community to confirm their delusion however no matter what facts are presented to them, they continue to believe the wall is white.
This was never intended to be a discussion.
As you said one might….
4 pages and counting…
Maybe not really a problem if you don't mind paying a large mortgage. With the interest rates going down for years many people with small wages can get a big mortgage. When times get tough again the government will bail people and indirectly the banks with job keeper, jobseeker and the like.
Also I've seen some of your comments, you seem too dumb to realise without government subsidisation rents will go up as house prices go up while wages have not and will not keep up.
Average income is around $5k pm, average home loan around $2300pm, definitely mortgage stress. However it's said affordability has improved…. The primary reason however is that people mostly buy a home to live in when they are a couple, and couples generally have to both work full time to afford a home especially when you have kids. Never mind the stress and impact on family life of both parents working full time, the key thing is house prices keep going up even with stagnant wages and high unemployment.
Next step to improve affordability, is to get the kids working and paying for the mortgage, or having multiple generations in the house contributing.Ridiculous in my opinion, but it's important to keep investors happy by keeping prices going up.
Ridiculous in my opinion, but it's important to keep investors happy by keeping prices going up.
Is that sarcasm?
Yes
2700 is a lot though. That's 32k a year. Enough for new note 20 ultra, ps5, xbox x…
Thank you all for your reply. I think it is now clear that it is not a problem.
Hahahahahaha.
Oh god, thats the funniest thing I've read today
Oh god, thats the funniest thing I've read today
I know, its too stupid to even warrant a response. Everyone will be so relieved to hear that housing affordability is no longer a problem. Everyone go forth and buy a house!
Banks are the problem, letting borrow 30 year loans. It's a modern slavery, both parents work day and night just to get a roof and some food.
If the houses cost something resembling a reasonable amount, and wage growth was a thing, sub-30 year mortgages would be easily attainable.
TIL you can only dish out 5 negs in 24 hours! Thanks OzBargein, without you i'd never have known.
Gonna answer this based on my own experience.
Wife and I were renting for first 8 years after getting married.
House 1:
After 18 months, owner wanted to move in, we had to move. Throughout the time, would constantly clash with the landlord over stupid things, like specs of dust in vents unreachable, and a stupid windows we couldnt clean because it was literally about 5-6 meters off the ground, which to access, we would need to place a ladder on the platform half way up the stairs. which there was no chance i was going to do. Owner kept constantly popping around every couple of weeks to ask when we are going to do the front yard, which was in fact maintained every 2 weeks. The house was always immaculate, and the real estate agency always sided with us, to the point that they rejected all his claims after we moved out.House 2: After 6 months, owner decided to sell house. (contracts were 6 months, initially intended for more long term)
House 3: Exactly same situation as above.
House 4: We moved temporarily into a seperate unit behind relatives house. A few months later they decided they were going to sell.
House 5: Temporarily moved in with my parents for a month whilst we were waiting on new lease to commence.
House 6: This house was our longest stint. We were here for about 4 years, however, like the first one, would constantly be having disagreements with the landlord. Landlord was a professional gardener, and had a rather exotic backyard and front. even though everything was maintained immaculately, with the agency again agreeing with us, it was never good enough for him, and he stated that the garden "needs one hour a day" in order to maintain it. We agreed to have him come around and show us what we were doing wrong… apparently we werent measuring the leaves before trimming, we werent buying the right brand fertiliser, and we had to replace an inch of top soil every 3 months. This guy was a nightmare.
House 6 was the final straw. after 6 moves in 8 years, and CONSTANT issues with landlords to the point it was leaving my wife in tears, we were finally able to afford our own place.
Long story short, buying your own house is worth it to save your sanity. And if you have kids, its a fantastic investment for your family's future. We just couldnt deal with it anymore. With rental properties, you never have any sense of housing security, have to put your life on public display for them during inspections, need their permission for every little thing, are dictated as to wether you can have a pet, have to advise them who is staying in the property whenever theres a change, they always have keys to the property…. i could go on for days.
Do you mind advising what suburbs/areas of Melbourne you were renting at?
Sorry to hear you had lots of issues finding a long term rental but good to know you now have your own place.
I have an investment property in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Never really bothered the tenants much, fixed issues in a timely manner and never raised the rents. Probably why I've had lots of long term tenants.
In some areas I would certainly say so, I don't believe this is a new phenomena. Although do to globalisation and increase in population the "unaffordable" areas are getting larger and effecting more people.
Most people don't want to rent forever, and thats understandable.
How do you set a user to ignore on here?
@[Deactivated]: Are you referring to high school as a period of time in the past or something you did earlier today?