Hi Beej,
Interesting perspective, could you give me your thoughts on :
Does high property prices relative to average incomes make for a higher quality of living for all in society?
Actually I think it does. But to be clear, what you state is not necessarily the goal either. The goal is to simply ensure that all in society have shelter. It should be up the each individual/family to work to improve their quality of living from that baseline - there are no fundamental "rights" in this regards - just look at countries like Indonesia, most in Africa etc to get my point in this regard.
Having said that, I have two more points in response to your question:
1) Yes, in fact higher house prices do improve baseline standard of shelter for all. As the standard of the typical/average house improves, so does that of the basic ones. Eg public housing tenants today would still demand/expect a standard of housing far higher than what they would have got in the past - as the bar has been raised significantly over the past few decades. Properties that today might be sold as a "renovate or detonate" special in era's gone by might have been typical/perfectly acceptable as places to live in as they are/were. Also consider why in AU we don't live in thatch huts or shanty towns like in much of Africa? I bet houses are cheap over there?
2) As any society becomes wealthier, it is inevitable that those at the top of the food chain will always attain more, live better and better etc than those at the bottom. Unless you have communism/extreme socialism, this will always be the case. So focusing on something like average income to median property price ratio's is always going to misleading IMO, as over time this stat is likely to rise. As Kincella points out re Melbourne, plus there is actually heaps of affordable housing even in Sydney where you can buy a house 45min-1hr from the city for < $250k - 3 beds, big back yard etc. That's only 4 x a single average wage or < 3 x average household income. Of course, as the houses get better, locations improve, move closer to CBD, beaches and other amenities, the prices go up. The market is very broad and there IS something there for everyone, and that's without even looking at what you can get units for, the market for which broadens the choice in the bottom/entry level end of the market even further.
So at the end of the day it's all about compromise and personal financial/lifestyle trade-offs and choices; (buy cheap or rent in a better location?), where you sit relative to the rest of the pack financially, and other factors which should be focussed on such as building more affordable housing if that's what people really want.
For another perspective of property have a read through some of the articles on
http://www.earthsharing.org.au/
I live in my community and shelter in my home. What matters is what is outside my front door than what is necessarily behind it.
Cheers.
Well I live in my community as well - but I spend most of my time when not at work in my own house. But maybe you don't have a family yet? I don't know - but to me a man's home is his castle, especially if you have a family!
PS: I'm no hippy either man! But "peace" to you!
Cheers,
Beej