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Housing fix? Doctoring the supply

By Karl Fitzgerald - posted Thursday, 18 April 2013


However there is hope. This year Melbourne's homebuyers are set to benefit from the completion of 25,000 apartments in the city's largest ever apartment boom. Those renting dingy apartments for $1600 per month will be watching to see whether this supply counts. If only they had $70,000 in savings rather than that amount in student debt.

With SMSF's and foreign investors willing to step into one of the last ponzi games alive on the planet – in 'the world's most liveable city' - the housing industry's affordability outcomes will be on centre stage.

But who can blame developers? They have a legal responsibility to shareholders. They work within a tax system virtually pleading with them to hold the locked out generations to ransom until they pay 'what the market can bear'.

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Recently we read of a property overlooking the Mercy Hospital, bought in 2004 for $175,000. Now real estate experts value this decrepit car park at closer to $8 million. This will no doubt be flipped to another middleman to game the system for more easy profit.

When the site is finally developed, the speculative land price will be passed on to home buyers who have little choice but to pay the prevailing market prices.

In a media landscape dominated by banking and housing industry spruikers paid to talk the market up, do we honestly believe the average 28 year old is being treated with respect when being forced to take out a $290,000 mortgage?

Property ownership is heralded as the bedrock of democracy. Politicians attitude to housing speculation as 'too big to change' hints at a sick and distorted representation of the greater good.

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About the Author

Karl Fitzgerald is the Projects Coordinator for Earthsharing Australia.

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