1 day Ago By Chris Reason
When Alys McDonough’s rent in Sydney hit $600 a week, she snapped. “I just couldn’t afford it,” she said. So she jumped on Google and searched “cheapest house in Australia”.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Just months later, she found herself the proud owner of four-bedroom shack in Norseman, Western Australia. Sitting on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain, some would call it the middle of nowhere. But the cost? Just $12,000.
She has no hot water, in fact, no running water at all. “I haven’t had a hot shower since the 5th of January 2023,” she says, laughing. “There are pluses, there are minuses.
It’s not for everybody — I’m just here because I had no other options.” Rents and house prices have been climbing for years — and now sit at nose-bleed heights for many. According to data analysts CoreLogic, Sydney remains the country’s most expensive city.
Since the onset of COVID in March 2020, median dwelling prices were up 29.2 per cent, or $268,627, to a record of almost $1.2 million.
Perth posted the largest increase, of almost 75 per cent or $341,000, to nearly $800,000. There are fears an entire generation has been shut out of some metropolitan markets. From respected ANU demographer Liz Allen: “Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis.
It’s undeniable.” The causes? Experts blame four key factors — immigration, supply, tax breaks and red tape. As 7NEWS reported Tuesday, immigration has exploded in the last two years.
A total of 1.1 million new permanent migrants arrived in the country in what is the largest surge in the nation’s history. Undoubtedly it has put pressure on the housing supply.
Also not helping are the generous tax breaks for investors — specifically, negative gearing. But the other key drivers of the crisis are a shortage in the supply of homes and land, coupled with an abundance of red tape and bureaucracy. Sydney developer Romeo Tamburri is the CEO of Firstyle Homes, and he says the situation is beyond critical.
“It’s the future of Sydney yet here we are, standing in an almost stagnant position where we cannot get the product out. It’s very frustrating,” he says. The “product” is houses.
He claims 17,000 house lots have been approved for construction in Austral-Leppington in Sydney’s west. But everything is at a standstill. “We’ve been waiting years for the infrastructure and nothing is happening.
Water connections, sewers, roads. Nothing.” “Housing in Australia is in crisis.
Unless something happens really quick, this crisis will continue to deepen and unfortunately, our community and our children and grandchildren will suffer.” “The further it goes, the deeper it will get.” There is another supply issue that’s slowing house construction — labour shortages.
Companies are struggling to find apprentices. Oscar Tolomeo of Tolson Plumbing says he has 53 employees but is struggling to find more. “The schools used to ring us asking for work experience for their students.
That’s pretty much dried up,” he said. “Kids don’t want to work manual jobs anymore. They’d prefer to work at McDonald’s or at Woolworths stacking shelves.
“I’ve been in the game 30 years and I’ve never seen it as bad. Brickies, roofers — we can’t attract them.” And what does he make of the Federal Government’s plan to build 1.
2 million more houses? “It’s just talk. It’s not happening .” He doesn’t believe it can happen, fearing there simply isn’t the land or labour to make it a reality.
Ironically, with fears high immigration is fuelling the crisis, Tolomeo says more skilled migrants look to be the only answer. “I’ve got a young Fijian plumber, if I could have another 10 of him I’d have them tomorrow,” he said. The current breakdown of home ownership in Australia tells us a lot.
There is a three-way split: 35 per cent of us are paying off a mortgage, 31 per cent own outright and 30.6 per cent are renting. That’s just a 0.
4 per cent difference. And it’s closing. We’re about to have more renters in the country than outright homeowners — for the first time in history.
Home affordability is simply out of reach for so many..
