This week we have some big news from Australia I thought people might be interested in discussing.

The level of public dissatisfaction with Australia's housing market became abundantly clear today, to myself and thousands of other Australians.

Recent campaigns by renowned advocate group "Get Up!" are championing a First Home Buyer's Strike and also calling for an end to the negative gearing tax break used by many property investors. The campaigns are gaining a huge amount of publicity in the media:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/online-campaign-targets-high-cost-of-housing-20110330-1cfeq.html

Real estate in Australia has exceeded all sensible valuation criteria and we now have some of the most unaffordable homes on the planet according to Demographia, The Economist, and many other respected organisations.

Also gaining much public attention recently is the Get Up campaign support thread and discussion on the Australian Property Forum with robust debate and literally thousands of hits in a few days:

http://australianpropertyforum.com/topic/8506527

If these campaigns works as the organisers plan, property values may reduce to more sensible levels whereby decent hardworking Australian families can once again afford a reasonable home.

Here is the link to the original campaign where thousands of people are casting their votes at an ever accelerating pace:

http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1595687-first-home-buyers-property-buyers-strike

If the bottom rung (FHBs) are taken out then the whole property ladder pyramid scheme may collapse. However, the GetUp Administrator has unfortunately suggested that it is very unlikely they will even accept these campaigns, as explained here:

http://australianpropertyforum.com/single/?p=8116675&t=8506527

Now, whether or not the public believe these campaigns are a good idea or a bad idea, there is no denying the huge level of public interest. The discussion has gone viral across the country on Twitter and other social media sites.

It is important that all property investors and owners consider the impact such a campaign could have on Australian property values.

The public have spoken, and if nothing else, these campaigns will surely be influencing future political decisions about the housing market in Australia.

This has been an important event in the history of the Australian housing bubble.

Matt Cooper

On the demand side we have government bent on high immigration. On the supply side there is a ridiculously restricted, obscure, and unnecessarily complicated development process. Of testament to the inherent corruption of local government, you need only look at the number sacked over the years. Australia stands to suffer substantial economic harm while this continues to be the status quo.

I agree that housing prices have got to ridiculous levels. In the 60s a reasonable house cost about 5 years average salary. This cost becomes less when you remember the average wage attracted less than 10% tax, & housing loans had a set interest rate of 4.25%.

So yes it's tough for kids today. However unless we want hundreds of thousands of hard working young Ozzies going bankrupt, we can't afford to act precipitously on reducing housing prices. Many who have recently become home owners could not survive, economically, if values drop very quickly.

This is Oz, not the USA. There they can walk away free & clear if they find they have negative equity in a home. In Oz, after a default sale, often for less than even current market value, the borrower is still responsible for any short fall in the return to the lender.

I don't think our society could survive a whole generation of young home buyers being sent bankrupt to pay the banks.

If these groups keep pushing to remove the benefits of housing investment, negative gearing being one, then where on earth do you think people who don't own a home (renters) will live.

Many who rent do so simply because they can not secure finance to buy their own home.

Many people today have multiple defaults against their name for items such as 'mobile phone' plans, the result being, they can not get credit.

Just keep one thing in mind. For every action, there is a reaction.

Forcing investors (landlords) out of the property market is one gamble that should be well researched before making that brave move.

Finally, many non home owners have the capacity to become 'home owners', it's just that life style choices often mean that they just can't have everything and, considering a home loan is often a 'for life' decision, this is the option that is often left out of the equation. The old 'it's all to hard' approach comes in to play.

The problem isn't with house affordability. It's a problem of expectations and the variety of housing.

If people are happy to live 20k from the CBD, the price of housing is much lower. If you can accept a house without that 3rd bathroom and movie room.

The land is valuable closer to the city and transport, so every 2 bedroom house is knocked down to create a mansion that first buyers cant afford, or 2 old large block houses are knocked down to create units (If the Nimbys don't kick up too much of a stink).

I live 10kms from the CBD and you can get a 2 bed flat worth about 300k. That's not really expensive. A kid earning 35K living at home for 2-3 years can easily save 60k deposit.

The quality of housing people expect these days is unrealistic. First home buyers expect to moving into a brand new 3+ bedroom house with a big back yard less than 10kms from the CBD.

It's called a property ladder as historically people had to buy what they can afford in the not so nice area, build equity, then renovate or move up the ladder.

Trouble is these days first home buyers want to jump to the top of the ladder.

We want the world and we want it....

Now!

To solve this 'crisis' (There are no problems only crisis these days) improve commuting times and make it more viable to live further form the city, and decentralise cities with multiple 'business parks' close to rail.

*Many who have recently become home owners could not survive, economically, if values drop very quickly.*

Hasbeen, you had better explain that one to me. The general
idea of somebody buying a house, is to have a place to live in.
Once they have bought the place, they still have a house to
live in, repayments are not going to change up or down based
on the change in house prices. So in reality a drop in
house prices should not affect our new home owners, as distinct
from a change in interest rates.

As Houllie points out, what has changed is expectations. The
average house is now twice the size that it was in the 60s.

These days everybody wants everything now and claim they are
hard done by, if they don't get it. Perhaps our baby boomers
are to blame. They gave the present generation too much, too
soon, now they want even more.