Search results

If people aren't even willing to move an hour or so out into the outer suburbs, mainly because they don't want to be away from family or where they grew up, how likely are they to move to Germany? I don't know about you, but I can't speak German. I think people are going to end up preferring to...

What, a beginner home at the edge of town can't be bought on one income? Do you consider $50k to be a normal income these days? You can still find decent houses out in Western Sydney for $200 - $250k. That's affordable on one income. Besides, a beginner home back then was a 2-3 bedroom shack. Alex

Excellent choices. And everyone has the freedom to do so. But if people aren't even willing to move into the outer suburbs, what are the chances that significant numbers of people will move to the regional cities? Though tell me, YM, which country / city would you suggest? As for renting, that...

But JB, what solution have you got? Any demand-type 'solution' (lower interest rates, higher first home owners grant, etc) will just increase prices across the board. Releasing land in the fringes won't help because people, it seems, aren't willing to live out that far. Increasing redevelopment...

You guys may agree, but I seriously doubt the situation is going to change. What's the point of wringing your hands and cluck-clucking over something that you can't change? Sure it's nice to find people who share your views, but I prefer to deal with the world as it is. Alex

Yeah, life sucks. Boo frigging hoo. Wring your hands all you want. It isn't going to change anything. I'd just rather aim to be at the wealthy end of the spectrum, hmm? Actually, in Sydney, $200k will get you a decent 2 bed unit in Parramatta. Don't want to live in a unit? Tough. In time...

Housing is affordable if first home buyers, who are generally in the lower income levels, don't aim to buy median homes (which are by definition priced in the middle of the range). Alex

I forgot whether it was the Demographia survey but I read that some surveys use, for example, a 2 bedroom, 80sqm unit, 45 minutes from the CBD or something like that as the base dwelling type. Now, depending on the city, this may or may not make sense. A 45 minute commute would be considered...

What I don't get is, Nth Brisbanite is an older guy, no? WE'RE the Gen X and Ys here. Why is NB lamenting that young people can't buy the properties they want and WE'RE saying just suck it up and get on with it? I would have thought it's usually the reverse. Of course, people on Somersoft aren't...

Exactly. Supply and demand. It may well be the case that as economies develop the % of people who cannot afford decent housing (anyone seen a bedsit in London? Yuck) increases. That's unfortunately, but that's reality. Everyone just make sure that YOU are on the nicer end of the stick...

Tough. Reality is what it is. It's either buy a place further away or rent forever (AND watch rising rents push you out anyway). Lament the breakdown of the nuclear family all you want. Won't change the reality. And there are plenty of people on this forum who started with nothing and DID...

My response: boo frigging hoo. If people aren't willing to live where they can afford, they can, at least for now, rent where they want. Rents, you'll note, are going up too, Soon the FHBs will be priced out of their desired areas for buying AND renting. Then they'll have no choice, or get help...

There is no cannot. There is only unwilling. If they're unwilling, then it's not an affordability problem: it's an aspiration problem. And why SHOULD they be able to afford $500k? Obviously enough people can, otherwise the median wouldn't be $500k. If some people can't afford $500k, so what...

I agree with the others. The affordability crisis is simply people wanting too much compared to what they can actually afford. Why should first home buyers be able to buy median properties anyway? Why should they expect to? People trade UP to median properties. Alex