Housing Affordability - a return to Feudalism?

[Bushman]

The great housing affordability crises continues un abated, with one in three Gen Y respondents expecting to be 'permanently locked out of the housing market'! No wonder there has been a massive fall in loan applications. Who wants to sign up for an LVR of 95% in a rising interest rate environment.

The alternative for Gen Y is to buy into the urban sprawl away from public transport and amenity.

My parents generation (Baby Boomers) were born into a life where employment and home ownership were a given. Globalisation has taken care of the former and now the generous landlord tax concessions/FIRB rule relaxation is taking care of the latter.

So the Boomers have effectively sold their Gen Y progeny into a neo-feudalism where the landed class gentry will assign a whole generation to the role of wage slave. Increasingly the land lords could also be foreign. FUBAR!

At some stage in the future, the Boomer estates will need to be sold off and the pricing will need to take into account the mismatch between those demanding property and what their earning capacity can bear versus the over supply of investment properties being realised. That will be some correction IMO.

This is my tip to become an increasing political issue as Gen Y get angry at the bitter pill they have been forced to swallow and make their political views be heard.


From today's The Age:

' “We have never seen such pessimism amongst prospective first time buyers throughout the past five indexes,” said Vittoria Shortt, chief executive of Bankwest Retail. “Seventy per cent of respondents were very concerned about the level of debt they will be committed to if they buy a property.”

One in three Generation Y respondents, those born between about 1980 and the early 1990s, said they expect to be permanently locked out of housing market.'

http://www.theage.com.au/business/property/homeownership-dream-dims-for-gen-y-20100421-ssdp.html

 

[nunthewiser]

Its ok .......... If anyone can save us, Rudd can

 

[WaveSurfer]

Gen Y are lazy slackers that want it all and they want it now. Not willing to pay the price for it either. A vast majority of them anyway.

All I have to do is look at my siblings and their friends. They see what the oldies have and they think it should be handed to them on a silver platter.

Opportunities are still there in abundance, believe you me. I see them every day. Just have to open those peepers, be prepared to sacrifice and realise that the dream home is NEVER your first home. Was the same for the boomers, and it will be the same for every other generation.

And not to forget that interest rates are at their lowest levels ever... Opportunity is there for the taking.

 

[chode84]

My fiancée and I purchased our first property about 18 months ago. We signed the contract 10 days before Rudd introduced the stimulus package (annoying) so the interest rates were at their highest point for that cycle. We were only 24 at the time and by no means earning any more then anyone else our age. She was on about 25k as she was and still is studying and I was on 50k at the time. So 75k all up which is f**k all really.

The key to us being able to buy was moving from Sydney to Port Macquarie. Our property is a town house with no common walls and a backyard and we are 100m from the beach on the main beach drag. It cost us a measly $220,000 (3 bed two story). It was absolutely horrible inside when we bought it but I renovated it for around $11,000 and its worth around about $280,000 now.

The point of my rant is that property is acquirable to gen y if they are prepared to live out of the city. Even if they get something somewhere they don't wish to live but rent it out! Its really not that hard.

 

[Mofra]

Gen Y are lazy slackers that want it all and they want it now. Not willing to pay the price for it either. A vast majority of them anyway.

The only think worse are boring sterotypes from Baby Boomers, easily the most useless generation in Australian history.

In any case, we need a two birds, one stone solution here - with the number of foreign property holdings sitting idle, and the relatively strong squatters rights in Australia, all we neeed to do is start advertising which properties are unoccupied, foreign owned dwellings and let "market forces" do the rest of the work

 

[Bushman]

In any case, we need a two birds, one stone solution here - with the number of foreign property holdings sitting idle, and the relatively strong squatters rights in Australia, all we neeed to do is start advertising which properties are unoccupied, foreign owned dwellings and let "market forces" do the rest of the work

Apart from the gold rush of the 1850s, a lot of the old Victorian money was made by squatters who grabbed the fertile farming land i.e. the old school 'Squattocracy'. I like the idea. The land banking that is going on in ressie is nuts at the moment.

For full disclosure purposes, I am not Gen Y (rather Gen X of Nirvana fame) and I own my home outright. I would hate to be buying a first house within cooee of any major CBD. Urban sprawl is unsustainable in the long-run with significant social and environmental costs.

Sorry if any of this sounded like Boomer bashing which is not necessarily my intention. H/e landlords and homeowners objecting to inner-city medium to high density infill is a particular bug bear of mine.

'Ooh but it might detract from the value of my multi-million dollar fortress'. Give me a break.

 

[satanoperca]

The only think worse are boring sterotypes from Baby Boomers, easily the most useless generation in Australian history.

In any case, we need a two birds, one stone solution here - with the number of foreign property holdings sitting idle, and the relatively strong squatters rights in Australia, all we neeed to do is start advertising which properties are unoccupied, foreign owned dwellings and let "market forces" do the rest of the work

Now that is thinking outside the square. Plenty of uni students who would love to take up residence in a nice house in Mosman or Toorak, free of rent.

Cheers

 

[ChilliBlue]

Advise to anyone who wants to buy their own home

Spend less than what you earn
Buy something small as early as you can
Give up outdoing the Jones's
Try living as frugal as you can

 

[kgee]

Or let the living come easy ...shift to somewhere more affordable....Sth East Assia, Carribbaen, C. America,
Like NZ watch what the brain drain does

 

[Chris45]

The only think worse are boring sterotypes from Baby Boomers, easily the most useless generation in Australian history.

Nah, that title definitely belongs to the video-game generations whose lives of sex, drugs and video games are financed by Centrelink while they live at home and sponge off their parents. They can't spell and they need a calculator to work out 1+1. They can’t even play with a toy unless it comes fully assembled from the factory with the batteries pre-installed. The problem is each new generation is worse than the previous one. Pretty soon they won’t even be able to take a dump without a robot there to clean up after them.:

 

[MACCA350]

Nah, that title definitely belongs to the video-game generations whose lives of sex, drugs and video games are financed by Centrelink while they live at home and sponge off their parents. They can't spell and they need a calculator to work out 1+1. They can’t even play with a toy unless it comes fully assembled from the factory with the batteries pre-installed. The problem is each new generation is worse than the previous one. Pretty soon they won’t even be able to take a dump without a robot there to clean up after them.:

Somebody work out where that round shiny disc thingy goes, mashed some buttons on a rectangular thingy and watched Wall-E, did they


I'm not a Gen Y, and I'm kidding:

cheers

 

[WaveSurfer]

The only think worse are boring sterotypes from Baby Boomers, easily the most useless generation in Australian history.

That may be the case, but don't forget that they are also the most successful.

Nah, that title definitely belongs to the video-game generations whose lives of sex, drugs and video games.....

Hey, don't knock the old Atari :

 

[cutz]

That may be the case, but don't forget that they are also the most successful.

That's a broad sweeping statement, what's your basis ??

I think you may be confusing success with luck.

 

[Chris45]

Somebody work out where that round shiny disc thingy goes,

Do you mean those big shiny black disc thingies? Ha! Figured that out a long time ago sonny boy! Arm gets a bit tired cranking the damned handle though these days.

 

[MACCA350]

Do you mean those big shiny black disc thingies? Ha! Figured that out a long time ago sonny boy! Arm gets a bit tired cranking the damned handle though these days.

Hehehe, nice comeback mate

cheers

 

[Mofra]

Nah, that title definitely belongs to the video-game generations whose lives of sex, drugs and video games are financed by Centrelink while they live at home and sponge off their parents. They can't spell and they need a calculator to work out 1+1. They can’t even play with a toy unless it comes fully assembled from the factory with the batteries pre-installed. The problem is each new generation is worse than the previous one. Pretty soon they won’t even be able to take a dump without a robot there to clean up after them.:

Yep - Gen Z.

Gen X (myself) tend to be the most responsible of the lot in my completely biased opinion

 

[Mofra]

Apart from the gold rush of the 1850s, a lot of the old Victorian money was made by squatters who grabbed the fertile farming land i.e. the old school 'Squattocracy'. I like the idea. The land banking that is going on in ressie is nuts at the moment.

Land banking is bad enough, however Melbourne is apparently the 11th largest city in the world by land area - that in itself is an indicator of how poorly managed the growth of Melbourne has been managed by successive governments over an extended period of time.

 

[Mofra]

Now that is thinking outside the square. Plenty of uni students who would love to take up residence in a nice house in Mosman or Toorak, free of rent.

... and sharehouse living is almost a right of passage for uni students as well so we effectively have a disincentive for foreign purchases of high end properties combined with cheap/non-existant rent for the group of people who are most likely to be poor short-term yet contribute most heavily to our tax revenues long term.

When Ruddy holds another pow-wow of minds again after running out of ideas, I'll demand my seat!

 

[Bushman]

OMG Ruddy has already back flipped on the relaxation of FIRB rules re foreign ownership! Someone should really start a 'Rudd back flip' thread.

An improved version of Howard Populism is this Krudd government.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/hammer-falls-on-foreign-investors-20100423-tjcy.html

But housing affordability was always a ticking time bomb.

 

[Bafana]

The only think worse are boring sterotypes from Baby Boomers, easily the most useless generation in Australian history.

LOL Baby Boomers and Gen Y's dissing each other. Both of you are now dependent on Gen X and will be till the day you die, both have failed to care for anyone other than yourselves. Seriously the boomers amass and spend their wealth whilst allowing their children to go it alone into rising debt and the Gen Yers want it all now but don't want to work for it (entitlement should read, entitled to a kick up the ****)

Back to the OP, I agree with his opinion. Now where expand my lands next so that I can have more serfs and buxom serfettes. If your not in property right now it's not going to get any easier. That said have been in Singapore for the last two weeks and the lcoals there are also worried about a similiar situation.

IMO it may be a case of delayed bubbles bursting (damn there goes my servile wenches theory)