A very large difference between renting in most of Europe as opposed to Australia is that it has always been seen as a choice. It can be a choice because renting does not mean one year leases with three monthly inspections. There are no such thing as house inspections, they would be seen as an infringement on your privacy. After all, the bank manager doesn't inspect his property either, even if he has lend 100% of the mortgage to the home 'owner'.

Rents are long term leases, more often than not for as long as the tenant wants making 30 year tenancies not uncommon. It is seen as your home. Renting as a choice is not an option in Australia

Not only Switzerland has smaller cities. Although Western Europe has a much higher population density than Australia (Switzerland is half the size of Tasmania, think of 16 million people in Tassie!) towns and cities are much smaller. There is more thought to long term town planning than happens in this country where land development and house building is such a big part of our own peculiar personal wealth creation.

As I understand it, in Germany, tenants will upgrade their rented apartment, repainting, fitting new kitchens etc. I believe they can remove the kitchen when they leave. Tenants assume they have a 30 year lease.
A swiss miss of my acquaintance was shocked at the impermanence of Australia. Her husbands family had lived in the same farmhouse for 600 years and often Australian homes are falling down after 50 years. Australian buildings appear to be designed for a 25 year life.
Contrast the swiss attitude with a typical Australian attitude to housing. My mother was relieved when the house she had reared her children in was bulldozed for a new development. It was our house and no one else's. Typically a house was built for or by a young couple and when the last one died the house was falling down, ready for the next family to build a new house on the land.

Billie, yup Swiss homes are much better built then the old Aussie
3 by 1 fibro, alone due to the building codes and the history of
both countries. Houses there need a structure to protect from
atomic explosions, food reserves in cellars etc, all windows double
and triple glazed to keep the cold out and much more. Houses are
just unaffordable for most and living in units is normal, not in
houses.

OTOH, due to the savings habits and tax structure, people save
far more, so interest rates are far lower, which mean much better
houses per investment Dollar. Aussies remain the world's biggest
gamblers but among the world's worst savers, again due to our
tax structure. So we pay higher interest rates then we need to,
which makes housing less affordable. The Swiss have a real shortage
of land, we don't.

Things are changing here. Lots of new homes built in WA are now
fairly solid double brick, rather then the old el cheapo fibro, so
should last along time, as long as no tenants trash them completely.

Australians are not good savers? Surely our 9% super contributions, our large mortgages are savings? Isn't the problem more on how we spend our money not on the savings and what our banks are more ready to lend for?

The problem is more with an economic system that rewards the lenders for consumption rather than rewards lenders for investment. It is more profitable for a lender to lend to someone for credit card purchases (consumption) than it is to lend money to build a factory that has a return in five years time (investment).

Instead of "blaming" consumers we should take a closer look at an economic system that encourages individual consumption to the detriment of infrastructure and productive investment.

The is definite benefits to living within your means. The housing unaffordability is a function of the state governments tying up land release or large private land parcels being able to be subdivided

FP, yup the super levy has made a huge difference, although it has
also made some of our export industries less competitive.

Put it this way, if during the last weekend, Aussies had only blown
26 billion on Xmas, rather then 36 billion, longer term, would
people not be better off? Less credit cards to pay off etc.

If you look at our trade balance, its no so bad, its the current account
that is high by international standards. If we saved more,
that would be lower, which would bring down interest rates, as we
would be less dependant on foreign investors.

To compare interest rates at present on the 3 month rate
from last weeks Economist:

Singapore 2.56%
Canada 3.86
EU area 4.88
Switzerland 2.78
Japan 0.73
Australia 7.35%

That hits mortgages in a big way.

You are correct, one can't just blame consumers. Govts don't provide
incentives to save, they mainly just tax them, so people only
save where its tax effective, like buying houses or super.