The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Restoring first home buyer affordability > Comments

Restoring first home buyer affordability : Comments

By Wendell Cox, published 7/4/2009

Urban consolidation policies place serious restrictions on developing urban fringe land for housing.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. All
grputland, Good luck in convincing the local residents and council of your worthwhile desires.
Posted by Dallas, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 6:27:06 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Author Wendall Cox is basically correct in his hypothesis of expanding the supply of vacant land,inevitably leading to lower prices. The pressing problem of urban sprawl is Universal - what is needed is a fearless Leader with honesty, backbone and gumption, to call the shots.

What WC doesn't factor in, is that whilst we have the largest amount of free space per person on the Planet, we are stridently opposed to forsaking our " comfort zone " lifestyles, yet expect Joe Bloggs and his tribe to the initiative and settle down out in the sticks of Whoop-woop ? Is it any wonder most ozziemo's are searching for the Utopian sea-change ! This article is both disingenuous and cynical. It evokes the preception developers and shysters are manipulating the scarcity of residential freehold land to gain filthy lucre, and their altruism profit driven ? State Goverments are notorious for grnating large tracks of land to private interest in the guise of " wild life warriors ", later to revoke the lease in favour of Political expediency, to Mining interest, for a quick buck.

Ideally, everybody want to live within easy access to education, medical facilities, shopping, employment, and bacis needs. Generations, since Governor Phillip's arrival in Port Jackson, have settled in areas along the coastal fringes on the dryiest Continent on Earth. Early settlers soon learned survival depended on the availability of water, arable land and commerce.

As the recession bites and the credit crunch encroaches, people are discarding some of the frivolous things in life, out of necessity. Most households have adopted financial strategies to cope. If predictions are correct, things will get worst before it improves. The Reserve Bank chopped interest rates 1.4% to 3% ( lowest in 50 years) to revive Business, and the Housing Industry particularly. The plight for first home buyers has not significantly eased. Affordable housing remains increasingly scarce and CBD dwellings are like hen's teeth. While consumer confidence plummets, and finance harder to obtain, the four pillar Banks have exacerbated the impost by refusing to pass on the interest rate cut, despite dire exhortations
Posted by shellback, Friday, 10 April 2009 9:51:33 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
and futile hand-wringing by dynamic Faulty Tower's comedy trio Rudd, Swan and Tanner. Govt rock-solid facetious commitment to indemnify the Banks, extend credit, and absorb bad ( Ponzi, Sub-prime,Hedging ) loans, notwithstanding. Plans to torpedo the $21,000 Housing grant will undoubtably fuel the debate. The averacious Banks have, under the pretext their sharholders are suffering a 30% fall in dividends, and falling ASX share prices,have inadvertently increased charges to make up the shortfall. Many enjoying the home grant may find themeselves worst off in the short term. Realistically, if couples find it impossible to save for a deposit, the likehood of servicing a $ 350,000 mortgage over 40 years is indeed fanciful. Axiom: there is no such thing as a free lunch. Shopping for cheaper loans by playing the Banks against each other is fallacious nonsense. TV current affairs programs are propagating insidious visceral lies. Ultimately, the Banks decide if you are worth the inherent risk, and whether your over exposed Parents are prepared to put up their homes as collateral. The Fix term loan negates the RBA relief cut. The traumatic exercise is a mine field to the uninitiated. Paradoxically, the Rudderless charade, stimulus package is aiding and abetting wannabe defaulters.

In future, we will see more Housing Estates being developed by Govt's, State's and Municipalities to house communities hitherto living in single houses. All over the World, multi-story apartment towers are replacng shanty-towns, run-down neighbourhoods. Ghettos. Once, the luxary of 14 perch blocks in prime areas was a deceitful ploy by local Council's, until it was unceremoniously abolished.

To overcome demographic population growth, economic,social and under privileged upheavels, areas are being bull-dozed to make way for satellite cities to alleviate congestion of low cost development estates, lacking proper infrastructure planning. These newer estates are replacing older ones, with modern conveniences and 21st century wizardry. As technilogy improves these satellite cities will cater for every taste and whim ie shopping arcades, recreation, child-minding etc. Infrastructure costs are, over a period substantially diminished, as the area appreciates with Business and Commercial investment, leading the way ie Scandinavia, Beijing, Brussels etc.
Posted by shellback, Friday, 10 April 2009 10:51:32 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"the left" is not so nimby selfish and greedy as to save all the selfishness for itself, Dallas.

You say:
"Wendall's reason and logic is cutting through the weeds in the swamp which supports the nimby,selfish,and the greedy lefts mind set.I wonder how many of these so called Australian's would support social and affordable housing construction in their streets?"

It's a moot point. I wonder, myself. I also wonder whether Wendell Cox or his Princeton Professor, or the worldwide (but more pertinently Australian) myriads of Real Estate agents, developers (including maybe a few wannabee Bondies)are more interested in living next to public housing than in a gated community, or at least a "nice suburb, say like Vaucluse or Double Bay in Sydney, or Lower Sandy Bay, in Hobart (even Sandy Bay is going to the dogs these days).

How about yourself? Maybe I do you an injustice. Maybe you are one of the unsung social commentators trapped on the 17th floot of Alexandria's high-rise monuments, fed up with the view into the window across the way, your few escapes remaining: into the urban jungle to collect your pension, or through your magical monitor screen, or watching DVD's of Dallas?

As for Wendell's logic, it is based on "free market" assumptions that only work with taxpayer subsidies. It's a shame folks like you can't tell left from right.
Posted by Sir Vivor, Saturday, 11 April 2009 8:10:46 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"Why is all the talk about supply-side solutions? What about demand? If you stop pumping up the population you will solve the housing crisis (and affordability crisis) in short order."

Bingo.

Housing prices depend on supply and demand. Both are variable, although real estate 'experts' talk as if supply of land for housing was the only variable we have any control over, while treating the demand caused by rapid immigration-driven population growth as a given. The Federal Government talks that way too. On one hand, it pretends that it helping to solve Australia's chronic housing shortage and result housing affordability crisis by offering band-aid supply-side 'solutions', while on the other hand, it continues to import hundreds of thousands of extra people each year, all of whom need to be housed.

Once the real estate and building lobbies have successfully lobbied government for higher levels of immigration and demand for housing starts running ahead of supply, a real estate 'boom' is essentially guaranteed. This is particularly noticable in our capital cities where the vast majority of immigrants end up.

With record numbers of immigrants streaming into our largest cities, any attempts by councils, planners or governments to limit the scourge of urban sprawl is politically risky. The reason is obvious. To set limits on where developers may build restricts the supply of land. Prices rise and a chorus of self-interest demands the 'release' of more land to address the crisis. Nobody ever bothers to point out that it is these same vested interest groups and their lackeys in government who created this pressure-cooker situation in the first place.
Posted by Efranke, Monday, 13 April 2009 7:15:22 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy