‘Developers only want to build luxury housing’ is a myth that absolutely annoys the hell out of me.
-
Here’s the other nasty thing about the problem which IMO nobody in the mainstream of politics grasps: anything that actually works to make housing more affordable, like a big State building program or a subsidy, will have the effect of making housing as an investment sector less valuable. Now if you’re me, you rub your hands and say good, cool, yes let’s go. (I don’t own a house).
But housing is also the main, really only, store of middle class savings and the basis of our retirement system, and there is no Party that is actually willing to attack their own voters like that. Everyone wants a magic wand to say ‘what we have but with some adorable housing tacked on’
-
Thermite Be Giantsreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by
@liamvhogan I am 100% in favour of adorable housing, especially if it’s also affordable
-
Frank’s Tingreplied to /dev/rdsk/c5t1d0s2 last edited by
@jpm @liamvhogan the “Gourmet Sandwiches" of Housing
-
If there was a Golden Age of affordability in Australian housing it was the later 1950s once the post-WWII shortage of materials had wound itself out. It was based on a few unrepeatable things: a big ring of peri-urban land around major cities that could be easily developed, a willingness on the part of Labor governments to ‘slum-clear’ inner urban areas (and eliminate in the process their own voter base), and a pattern of large family households sharing housing that disappeared with the sexual revolution. None of those conditions apply now
-
wolfpantherreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by [email protected]
@liamvhogan When people bring out the “lots of politicians own investment properties” I always think that’s not really getting at the issue. They are on high salaries, and so have money to invest and our system is set up that this is the best investment to make. I think the main obstruction is the issue you raise here - a lot of voters who don’t want change, but also a well resourced lobby group (including media making money out of real estate) who will fight hard against change, I think politicians are thinking way more of this than their personal investments.
-
@liamvhogan speaking as a single residential homeowner, I don’t care much about the sticker price of my house except as it compares to any other house (or eventually retirement place) I might want to move to.
If they all halved tomorrow the net effect on me would be meh.
-
@drew ahh but just because you aren’t thinking of liquidating the value doesn’t mean it isn’t there. If you tomorrow needed to find a very large sum of money, to borrow from a bank, you’d care very much.
-
Simon dē Gulielmōreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by
@liamvhogan As far as I can see, there isn't an extensive house/flat-sharing system to the scale that exists in Germany. There are a lot of half-empty big houses here. I don't know if that is because of legislation or cultural attitude. Another thing which I noticed, when I was in South Korea, is that companies buy or have apartment blocks built to offer either discounted or free accommodation to their employees. As far as I know this is only done for mining or oil workers in Australia.
-
Liam :fnord:replied to Simon dē Gulielmō last edited by
@simonwilliamson that’s right. Germany tends to have better quality housing stock (at least in the former West) but also has an overall lower standard of living in comparison to Australia. That’s reflected in household formation, which is also a big part of Australian housing crisis: household size has dropped hugely in the past decades and has dropped more and more since the advent of COVID.
-
Simon dē Gulielmōreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by
@liamvhogan So the set-up, in terms of infrastructure and legislation (and whatever other details there are) is an outdated relic of the post-war family boom conditions?
-
Liam :fnord:replied to Simon dē Gulielmō last edited by
@simonwilliamson and wealth holdings. Australia is an outlier in having so very much money tied up in housing, and held by such a large number of small owners.
-
@liamvhogan I remember someone putting it nicely that the problem is that once people buy the affordable housing they're now part of the voter base that wants housing prices to increase
-
Thermite Be Giantsreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by
@liamvhogan @simonwilliamson compared to Canada though? Very similar conditions
-
Liam :fnord:replied to Thermite Be Giants last edited by
@ThermiteBeGiants @simonwilliamson Vancouver is notoriously as tight a housing market as Sydney is. Maybe worse.
-
Thermite Be Giantsreplied to Liam :fnord: last edited by
@liamvhogan @simonwilliamson Toronto not far behind either