July 13 2007: A Problem of Housing
Filed under Politics
The Australian Government are finally addressing the problem of housing in Melbourne. It’s ironic of course, that this problem is only being recognised now, mere months before a national election, when it has been apparent in the suburbs surrounding me for the past five years. Clever politics. Very clever.
Interest rates are up, and surprisingly, it doesn’t deter people from committing to large mortgages on overpriced inner-city properties. The median house price in inner Melbourne suburbs is well over half a million dollars - more than ten times the national average wage. That’s a good $60,000 median price rise in five years. Inflation, yes, but at this rate?
I think the problem lies in the way people seem fond of demolishing perfectly nice smaller houses, replacing them with McMansions - five bedrooms, two ensuites, indoor swimming pool, theatre rooms, multiple entertaining areas…honestly, what’s the point? People are having fewer children these days, so why would they need the extra two bedrooms? Why would you build a swimming pool when the country’s in a twenty-year-long drought (despite recent storms and floods, we are still considered to be in a drought!)?
The truth of the matter is, society is plagued with a need for bigger, larger, better. When it comes down to it though, we don’t need anything more than three bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and a bathroom. We need to learn how to appreciate and use public facilities (recreational centres, libraries, transport) in order to cut down on private consumption.
And so I propose to the government and businesses: move your center of operations into country areas, rather than overcrowding the city centre. If you move jobs out into rural areas, then people will follow them, thus easing the housing shortage in the city. Resources won’t be spread as thin as they currently are. Housing prices will stabilise. Interest rates would go down. Pollution levels won’t keep rising. I fail to see any downsides to this proposal.
It does mean that the government has to get their act together and make some big changes to public facilities in rural areas. Maintain roads (paved, not dirt/mud tracks), create better public transport timetables (more buses on regular schedules, longer and more networked train lines, trams within certain districts in the state), give more funding to public libraries, etc.
We need to stop 80% of the state’s population living on 1% of the land. Politicians take heed!
5 Responses to “A Problem of Housing”
Leave a Reply
I reserve the right to edit or delete your comment as I see fit, though I only delete comments from anonymous commenters, or people with multiple aliases. Using a genuine name/email combination will ensure that your comment is approved.
We have our own housing ‘crisis’ right now. Because house prices rocketed over the past 3-5 years it’s virtually impossible for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder, leaving them crippled with high rent bills and no investment for the future. It sucks for people like me. :S
The government/’new’ Prime Minister is suddenly deciding to do something about it but the same promises were made 6 years ago (or thereabouts). Hands up if you can see us being in the same situation in another 6 years? *places hand in air*
Jem on July 13 2007 #
Hmm…funny, for my city, house prices are soaring and also families no longer wants 5 bedrooms, pools, etc and are settling for condos and townhouses.
Jennii on July 14 2007 #
I, like Jem, am also from the UK and can see us heading in the same direction. It does amuse (and amaze, even now) me that governments only realise and decide to act upon these so-called ’sudden’ problems (that have been apparant to the average Joe for ages) when there’s an election or a change in government (like our recent PM change).
Kelly on July 14 2007 #
Consider yourselves lucky it’s only half a million, after all the fancy renovations. The houses in Vancouver still look like total crap, and you’d be hard-pressed to find something under a million US around here (considering you live in Vancouver and not like, Burnaby/Langley/Coquitlam/whatev). There are tons of rich American investors and wealthy Chinese immigrants here who jack up the real estate prices like whoa… which is why my Mother crossed into real estate.
Reply: That’s half a million before renovations. :P
Chantelle on July 14 2007 #
At least you can suggest a solution for your problems. Over here we don’t really have that kind of space, and we can’t tear up the “green belt” put in place. That said, our new PM has notified us that housing is top of his agenda and he proposes 3 million (don’t quote me on that!) new houses in England.
Watching a news program it informs us that, no, there isn’t enough space for all of those houses. Hm!
Amber on July 14 2007 #