I recently did some calculations. Well..to be more accurate, the CBA loan calculator did it.

TYPICAL MORTGAGE.

3 bedroom Brick Veneer, 17 squares. Approx $300,000 if ur lucky. (Melb)

Young Couple, no kids. Each on $650/wk, Total $1300/week.

Renting while saving.

RENT $260/week.
FOOD $200/week.
BILLS $100/week.
TRAVEL $100/week.
SUNDRY $100/week.
TOTAL $760/week

Remaining to save=$540/week =$28,080 per year.

Save for 3 yrs =$84,240

Woops.. during that 3 yrs, the same house now costs $360,000

LOAN time...

Deposit $80,000, balance $280,000

$560/week approx. at 9.25% variable 30 yrs

$1300-560=$740/week left.

They have a child. Wife stops working. No longer 1300=560, but $650-560 leaves $90 a week, for all those things above which added up to $500 a week. (food, travel etc)

And of course..all that is if Interest rates just 'stay put' ....
I've assumed that a car is already paid off in the above... imagine if that was also a burden.

Am I missing something or is it virtually impossible to have a home and a family with chidren these days?

I'd appreciate others versions of how it might be achievable. ("selling drugs" and "accidents to parents to gain early inheritance" is not admissable)

Lateral thinking please. "Extended family help".. "cooperative living"
Any experiences from posters?

I felt the federal government could have done more to save many of the homes of the young couples but they didnt have the heart to buck the system. I think their hearts are really with the financial system not with the common folk.
I might seem over the top here but the Holy Bible says that there is a day coming when we (the one world government citizens/slave classes) work a days wages, for a loaf of bread (or equivalent wheat portion)...Revelation 6:6.
This shows that famine worldwide has become a rather large issue. Even this morning ABC news radio was saying that there are 33 countries with a food crisis going on.
In his book "WHAT WILL BECOME OF AUSTRALIA" 1975 Pastor Jack Burrell speaks of a time, off in the future, when famine is going to be a problem even here.
Not so much a lack of wheat, but a fuel crisis and the farmers couldnt get to their harvest because there was no diesel.
A tip for the future!
Get used to living with less, especially personal wealth accumulation. If you do it will lessen the impact on your heart when times change. If youre in crisis right now today "Seek ye The Lord whilst He maybe found"... Isaiah 55:6. Go to Jesus on the matter. "Everyone who calls on the Name of The Lord Jesus Christ will be saved"...Romans 10:13.

"Am I missing something or is it virtually impossible to have a home and a family with chidren these days?"

Speaking as someone in a remarkably similar position to the one you described — except that my husband and I choose to live in the inner city, and the last time we paid $260 rent was several years ago — the answer is no. You're not missing anything. And yes. It's impossible.

I do have friends who own houses, but they either got in to the property market early (which often included a few years of self-imposed exile in *shudder* the outer suburbs) or someone rich and related to them died. This is despite the fact that I know a disproportionate number of lawyers and general high-achievers. (Although, sadly, I am not among their number.)

On top of that, neither me nor the old man has a conventional worklife. We're both doing what we love, but we're never going to be rich.

Obviously, we've made choices that have affected our ability to buy in, but they're choices that impact directly on our wellbeing. We'd also choose to have kids rather than buy a house.

We have accepted we probably won't own our own house, or at least not for many years. We have some money, but we realise our returns will be greater if we invest it in other ways.

Luckily we love the house we live in and we have a great landlord who wants long-termers. So thank god for that.

Australia has, I believe, on of the highest rates of home ownership in the world. But it's no longer sustainable for *everyone* to indulge in the great Australian dream. It's an area where we need intelligent and inventive policy and someone brave to present some new models to a couple of pretty depressed generations.

I've got NO IDEA how I'll ever own my own home. Got no chance. Even rent is becoming a two income only option. Where to from here?. Homelessness will BOOM in the next few years. Due to medical reasons my missus can't work fulltime, or barely part-time. That makes us a one income household permanently. Ahem.....ummm that's if we EVER get the chance to live together...

There seem to be a number of freely-taken choices that affect your specific situation, Vanilla.

>>my husband and I choose to live in the inner city<<

>>neither me nor the old man has a conventional worklife. We're both doing what we love<<

>>we've made choices that have affected our ability to buy in, but they're choices that impact directly on our wellbeing. We'd also choose to have kids rather than buy a house.<<

>>We have some money, but we realise our returns will be greater if we invest it in other ways.<<

You also refer to:

>>self-imposed exile in *shudder* the outer suburbs<<

These choices appear to me to be well thought-out, and ones that you probably would not be inclined to go back and change.

Given these choices you have made, it is very difficult indeed for any government, of any persuasion, to tailor a housing policy that would fit in with your priorities.

I would hope that they first concern themselves with folk who are unable to make the career choices that you have, who do not insist that they live in inner-city accommodation, who are prepared to make the sacrifice to live for a while in (shudder) the outer suburbs, and who, in general, are willing to make the odd sacrifice here and there.

Not that there is anything at all wrong with your priorities - I know that millions would kill for the ability to adopt them - but it is just a little unrealistic to ask the government to take up the slack for you, in an area that is clearly not high on your list.

In NSW Govt taxes and charges account for the cost of a house/land package.We have to look to decentralisation as a means of taking pressure off land in the cities.This means investing in infrastructure like fast trains as they have in Europe and Japan.

We need a total reform of all our Govts and public services to make them more accountable.There is just too much waste,incompetence and ill planning.How is it possible in this day and age to build a hospital where the ambulances won't fit in the underground car park,doors too narrow to fit beds and wheelchairs,operating rooms too small to fit essential equipment,and sew pipes that try to defy the laws of gravity.

Our whole public administration is joke and shambles,thus things like affordable housing won't happen unless we make them accountable.The Public Service "Yes Minister" fiasco is no longer a joke,the reality is biting very deep.