Death of the great Australian dream? Housing affordability a top concern, poll finds   
February 5 2019  New Daily.

More and more Australians believe owning their own home is becoming further out of reach, as new polling shows housing affordability concerns are becoming more widespread.

Three out of four people now think that in a generation’s time, only “the rich” would be able to afford the Australian dream: Buying a home in an area where they actually want to live.

Conducted by JWS Research, the polling showed overwhelming support for the idea that “everyday Australians” should be able to own their own home, with 71 per cent concerned those unable to get into home ownership would face “financial challenges in retirement“.


Gaining a foothold in the housing market is viewed as increasingly challenging, with 75 per cent saying that home ownership feels more difficult than 10 years ago, the poll of 1500 respondents revealed.   

Housing affordability is a top concern for most Australians, second only to cost of living and ‘health and ageing’, and ahead of immigration, research commissioned by the Housing Industry Association found.


The results showed the “great Australian dream” of owning a home is “still embedded in the psyche of Australians”, HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said.

“With a federal election imminent, it is important to recognise that 71 per cent of people believe governments have an important role in helping Australians achieve their dream,” Mr Reardon said.

“The importance of home ownership to Australians couldn’t be clearer. Now more than ever, home ownership matters.”


Renters are a growing cohort in Australia, now comprising approximately one-third of all households.

While 92 per cent of renters aspired to buy their own home, less than half (49 per cent) believed it would ever be possible, the poll found.   

As renters’ ranks swell, the calls for more rights and representation have grown louder, with tenants unions across the country pushing for changes to laws weighted in favour of landlords.

Last year, a report by the nation’s peak affordable housing organisation National Shelter titled Disrupted: The consumer experience of renting in Australia found many renters were forced to put up with substandard living conditions, due to fear of eviction and rent rises.

A “lack of control” over their rental home, coupled with fears of being “kicked out if you raise issues around repairs”, are the key reasons why most renters aspire to home ownership, a Tenants Victoria spokeswoman told The New Daily.

“The reason people want to own a home is about agency. It’s not necessarily that they can’t wait to have a mortgage.

“It’s about being able to make your place your home, without being fearful.”
Home ownership falling fastest among young and poor


Home ownership rates, which have hovered about 70 per cent since the 1950s, are now falling among all age groups except for over 65s.

The sharpest falls have been seen among the young and poor, research by the Grattan Institute shows.

The share of 25-year-olds to 34-year-olds who own their home plunged from more than 60 per cent in 1981 to 45 per cent in 2016, the think-tank found.

The home ownership gap between high-income and low-income earners has also widened over the past decade.

“Home ownership now depends on income much more than in the past,” Grattan Institute research fellow Brendan Coates said.

Public concern about housing affordability has risen as home ownership rates have fallen, with government inaction largely to blame, a 2018 report by the institute said.

“Historically, governments have avoided the hard choices, preferring policies that merely appear to address the problem,” the report said.

Governments have failed to balance the needs of aspiring home owners struggling to break into the housing market with those of existing home owners, the report found.

Affordability pressures have now become so great that older generations “worry about whether their children and grandchildren will be able to buy a house”.

“Addressing housing affordability will inevitably lead to house prices and
rents growing more slowly than otherwise, or even falling,” the report said.

“But gradual change is desirable: A sharp fall in house prices would not only be politically very unpopular, it would probably cause economic upheaval and do more harm than good.

Despite the FACT that house prices have dropped dramatically after the Libs stopped interest only loans.

Now it is not uncommon to see houses fail to sell in auctions.

Under the Socialist Insanity of the Extremist Greeny controlled Labor lunatics house prices would collapse and rent would skyrocket as investors fled the housing market after Labor torpedoed it.

As a result of the housing collapse there would be massive unemployment as building jobs disappeared.

A true prediction is that the Extremist Greeny controlled Labor Party would plunge Australia into RECESSION and very likely lose the AAA credit Rating after their borrowing reached insanity levels.

juliar wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 10:44am:






dropped dramatically? 

They fell what? A ballpark figure of about 10% in Sydney and Melbourne? They went up 18% just in the year prior. And they went up at least 10% every year for the last 20 years.

You're going to need a lot more than a 10% drop to have any sort of impact for first home buyers

Actually the main reason ppl want their own home is the shortness of leases in Australia. Nobody likes moving every few months to a year.

If the govt is backing a move to stop reverse mortgages you can bet the farm it's so they can get your house in exchange for nursing home facilities.

Spot

Hi Neferti.  There you are circumventing your permanent ban again.  Using a VPN are you?

Mary Black wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 5:22pm:


You missed the point entirely but I suspect you know that

Spot

The real problem is not housing affordability.

Its because the young now have expectations higher than their income.

My father used to say
Living on a champagne lifestyle
earning a beer budget.

They want NEW houses,
New cars
New furniture
World holidays etc etc.

I bought my first house many miles away from work
I had to repair, rebuild and generally make it habitable.
I had second hand cars
Furniture from the Salvos.

We didn't suffer and lived quite comfortably.
It was hard at first, but it makes you stronger.

Now I live in a 4 bedroom home on the Central coast
with nice new cars, a nice reasonably new boat and a camper for holidays.
We travel occasionally overseas.

All because we lived within our means and didn't wast money on Lattes and expensive frivolities.

and these young recon we are a drain on the system.
sheesh