Tuesday, March 19, 2024

We Need A Different Conversation About Australia’s Housing Supply

Talk of increasing the supply of housing to increase housing and rental affordability is only pedalling private financial interest and obfuscating the real problem.

During a recent appearance on the ABC’s Insiders program, the Australian Greens’ housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, cited the figure of more than 1 million vacant homes to argue the Greens’ case for curbing negative gearing and tax concessions for property investors.

Since then, media pundits have picked through the latest (2021) Census numbers in an effort to discredit his argument, all the while letting the “more supply” argument proliferate unchecked. And while the Member for Griffith may be overstating the numbers, he is not wrong in asserting that “we have enough homes for people to live in.”

Read the original article at architectureau.com

Australian Housing Crisis: Full-Time Workers Forced Into Homelessness

In a stark expression of the mounting social crisis confronting the Australian working class, a growing number of people in paid employment are becoming homeless. Workers are increasingly being forced to sleep in their cars, camp in local parks, or couch surf, as a result of the widening chasm between wages and rent prices, and the profound shortage of public and social housing.

Charity organisation Mission Australia reports that four in ten people who sought assistance from a major homelessness charity in the past three years were employed but unable to meet the soaring cost of rent and other basic essentials.

Read the original article at wsws.org

Shock Sum Parents Need To Give Their Kids To Buy First Home

Australian parents will have to shell out increasingly large sums of money to help their children buy homes or risk them never making it onto the property ladder.

In decades past, buying a home was a relatively solitary thing, a goal set and achieved either as a single person or as part of a couple, but now buying a home has increasingly become an affair involving parents and other relatives.

According to investment and advisory group Jarden Australia, 15 per cent of borrowers are receiving an average of $92,000 from parents.

27 Million Milestone Stirs ‘Population Panic’

There are now 27 million Australians, thanks to the fastest population growth in the country’s recent history.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ population clock hit the milestone on January 24 about 3.30pm.

Australia’s population rose by 624,100 people in the 12 months to June 2023 – a 2.3% increase.

This is faster than the 10-year average of 1.4%.

ANU demographer Liz Allen said some segments of the media are exploiting population growth to sow panic about migration.

“Despite all the population panic going on at the moment, demographers have been well aware of this milestone,” she said.

The Future Of Housing In Australia Is Apartments. Lots And Lots Of Apartments

Australia’s big cities have lots of apartments and are getting even more.

Sydney is now just 56% separate homes, according to the most recent data. That is down from 63% in 2001. Most other big capitals are on the same trajectory, as the next chart shows.

Meanwhile, the latest building approvals data shows we plan to build more apartments still.

In Sydney and the ACT a majority of approvals are for dwellings other than separate homes, suggesting that before long Sydney will have separate homes as a minority. Canberra is further from that eventuality but rushing there quickly.

Read the original article at www.criket.com.au

Aussie Housing Shift: Embracing Vertical Living In Cities Amidst Challenges

The dream Aussie lifestyle has traditionally been synonymous with owning a home with lots of space. But Australia’s housing crisis is sparking a trend towards vertical living in its cities

Australian homes have long ranked among the most spacious in the world.

Having several bedrooms, a study, and a big backyard for entertaining guests around a barbecue is a common aspiration for most Aussies and one that has historically been easily attainable.

Yet the vision of the Australian dream home is disappearing amid a housing crisis that is forcing developers to build up rather than out.

Don’t Scapegoat Migrants For Housing Crisis, Warn Housing Organisations

Forty housing and homelessness organisations have warned Australian leaders not to blame overseas migrants for government problems.

Major community services groups across Australia have signed a petition to the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader conveying their concern that new migrants are being inaccurately painted as the driving cause of the housing affordability crisis.

A total of 40 organisations, including National Shelter, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA), wrote the letter in response to “disturbing rhetoric” linking the housing crisis to migration levels.

Maiy Azize, spokesperson for Everybody’s Home and coordinator of the letter, said that it is “nonsense to blame overseas migration as a primary driver of a housing crisis that has been decades in the making”.

The ‘Great Australian Dream’ Shattered: Unprecedented Housing Crisis Hits Australia

In what is being described as an unprecedented housing crisis, Australia is witnessing the disintegration of the ‘Great Australian Dream’ of home ownership. The crisis, underscored by skyrocketing property prices and inaccessible home loans, is reshaping the nation’s identity and causing distress, particularly among younger generations such as Gen Z and millennials. Housing, once perceived as a right, is increasingly being treated as an investment, leaving many without a glimpse of financial independence or housing security.

Not Happy, Jan

The HIA believes that the consequence of these new fees will see investors withdraw from the Australian market

It looks like the industry is not swallowing the federal government’s pill that foreign investment is contributing to the housing crisis.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) is one of many industry peak bodies and commentators to jump on the announcement made by Treasurer Jim Chalmers regarding the government’s plan to hit up foreign investors as a measure to improve housing supply for Australians.

In response to this proposed new impediment to housing investment, HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said more foreign investors would increase housing supply, not more taxes.

Read the original article at timesnewsgroup.com.au

Foreign Property Investors To Be Hit With Higher Fees

The federal government has announced changes to the foreign investment framework in an effort to boost Australia’s housing stock.

In an effort to boost Australia’s housing stock and provide more homes for Aussies, the Albanese government has announced higher foreign investment fees for housing.

“Higher fees for the purchase of established homes, increased penalties for those that leave properties vacant, and strengthened compliance activity will help ensure foreign investment in residential property is in our national interest,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement.

At the same time, he announced the government will cut application fees for foreign investment in build-to-rent projects to support the delivery of more homes across Australia.

Read the original article at www.investordaily.com.au