The great Australian property dream has turned sour

Jess Irvine has written an article titled The great Australian property dream has turned sour, published in the Sunday Mail on 9th June 2013

NIMBYism choking our cities. This is bad news for young people looking to buy, but it's also not as great as you might imagine for existing home buyers. Governments are more likely to allocate new infrastructure, like transport, schools and health care in areas with rapidly growing populations.

Over the past three decades, housing affordability has declined in every capital city in Australia. Back in the 1980s, the median home prices was equal to about three or four times the median annual salary. Today, across Australia, it's more like six or eight times annual salaries.

It should be pointed out that in most families there are now two people earning income, meaning that effectively the growth in house prices has merely kept pace with the growth in household income.

Housing is a basic human right. But a big backyard, increasingly, is not. Our cities are hitting the limits of acceptable urban sprawl. If we want to ease the affordability squeeze on young families, the only way is up.

Response
There is a detailed response in NIMBY Protests Put Homes Out Reach.