Home is a long way away

Australia’s property problem

Featured in

  • Published 20250204
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-04-3
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook. PDF

THE AUSTRALIAN HOUSING market is a wealth-generating machine, not a home-generating machine. So much is wrong with the current situation. No doubt you see it too; everybody seems to on some level. That’s why we keep hearing about the ‘Australian housing crisis’. I can see it, and I proudly consider myself an old-school capitalist, with a preference for free enterprise, fair competition, private property rights and the chance to make an occasional profit. We now find ourselves with a de facto caste system in Australia: the home owners relative to the home renters. Both groups need homes, but there is a marked wealth division between those collecting passive income on houses they own and those living solely on direct income who are forever chasing a rising market. Home owners benefit in myriad ways, with stability, equity capture, better credit conditions, investment opportunities and tax advantages. Renters get uncertain tenure, poor-quality management, pet restrictions and an impending sense of doom in the run-up to lease-renewal time.

Home ownership in Australia is a unique exception to tall poppy syndrome, the cultural checks-and-balances system designed to stop anyone from getting too big for their boots. Owning one house is lauded; owning more than one is held in near-mythical status. Success in the housing market may be demonstrated in the most vulgar of ways, and it’s socially approved of. Conversely, not owning a home diminishes your standing and potential. This is most keenly felt by the under-thirty-five cohort, among whom home ownership rates are plummeting. It’s getting worse year on year, and the future is looking grim: those who don’t already own their home are relentlessly overwhelmed by the gravity of the market as home prices increase more in weeks than incomes do in years. Rents are creeping up all the time as well. If you’re in on the dream, chances are you’re enjoying the uplift. If you’re not, you’re probably looking on desperately as the idea of owning your own home floats further beyond your reach.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Tony Matthews

Tony Matthews is an urban planner, scholar and international advocate for good cities. His award-winning work addresses current and emerging urban challenges through research,...

More from this edition

Shelf life

Non-fictionEarly in his career, Charles Dickens notably underestimated the reputational risk of library-shelf browsing when he invited the critic George Henry Lewes home for tea. Over steaming cups, Lewes eyed naff triple-decker novels and bland travel books, ‘all obviously the presentation copies from authors and publishers’. He recalled the experience in a waspish elegy published shortly after Dickens’ death: ‘A man’s library expresses much of his hidden life, I did not expect to find a bookworm, nor even a student, in the marvellous “Boz” but nevertheless this collection of books was a shock.’

Buy, recycle, repeat

Non-fiction THE TIP SHOP opens at 10 am every Thursday. By 9.50 am there’s a line at the gate at least ten people deep. There’s...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.