*I blame the capitalist system*

You are free to do so Saorise, but I think you are wrong, because
I think its the political system that is the problem, not capitalism.

Yes, we have some of the most expensive houses on the planet,
whilst it does not cost a fortune to build them. Yes I agree, for
young people its difficult to buy homes at their present price.

But it was politicians who set up our tax system as it is, it
is politicians who control land release etc, it is urban planners
who wanted to force people into high density living in apartments.

Interest rates are higher then they need be, because thats the
way politicians set it up, people simply responded to the realities
of the market place enforced on them.

Australians don't save enough in terms of bank deposits, because
it does not pay them to, given the tax structure that we have.
Inflation takes half the interest paid, no allowance is made for that.
Tax takes the other half, so its hardly worth having too much cash
in the bank. So our banks have to borrow half of their funds
from overseas, meaning higher interest rates.

More migration without enough new land release for building, results
in even higher real estate costs. Huge charges on developers, add
to the problem.

But it pays people to borrow to buy an investment home, due to the
tax structure. So that is what they do.

All this has zilch to do with capitalism, everything to do with
politics

Saoirse>> working my 70hour a week job and commuting 3+ hours a day because the only place i could afford to buy a house was at least 1 hour out of the city

Nice try, and while some out there may fall for this, I am sorry but I don't.

Now you lead us to assume you are a professional (Post uni comment), so, considering you would be on at the very least $30 per hour, how then can't you afford a home closer when you must be earning at least two grand a week or more, as surely someone with your academic ability is not being sucked in to working some 30+ hours per week for zilch!

Now as for owning a home. Well back in the early 80's when I bought my first home, it was simply a waste of time talking with the bank unless you had at least 30% as a cash deposit. Even then it was not always a given.

>> But what I am worried about the world I am leaving for my children and I am going to fight to make sure that they actually have a sustainable economy to inherit.

Good luck! Especially with these fools running the place. Someone needs to explain to them that they can only spend (waste) money once.

>>Just tell me how it’s possible to do this today because I must be doing something wrong...

More importantly, tell me what you do with all that money you earn, or, if you don't earn your 70+ hours worth, why the hell do you work there when we have, as madam PM pretends, 'full employment'.

Cont

The type of money being earned out there today is amazing, to say the least.

Even traffic controllers, after having done a three day course are fetching a grand a week plus, yet they still can't buy a house.

Gen-Y simply has a 'spending crisis' and it is this reckless spending of their dollars that has made home ownership more of a dream than a reality.

Even where I live you can buy a neat 3 BR house for around $350K.

Trouble is, it's not 'the house' and that is where the problem starts.

The bars clubs and pubs are packed every weekend with hundreds of thousands being washed away. I know, I have two gen-y's myself.

Priorities is the key.

Save for a year or two, get your loan, pay the mortgage, pay the bills and then, if you have some money left, spend it, but not before.

Try it, it will work, but you may have to change your group of friends as they may well be caught in the 'party trap' that so many Gen-Y's are in.

All to often they have a social life, then work around it, which often means finding a job that suits.

Luckily, it sounds to me your not one of those.

I agree with you Yabby, except that i reckon our political leaders are heavily influenced by money, and the ones who have it (got to keep them onside in order to get elected or re-elected), thus its a crisis of the system as a whole, underpinned by capitalist greed and propped up by stupid pollies.

I've told my story and i'm obviously not going to convince you rehctub as it apparently suits you to prefer to think all Gen X/Y are lazy, spendthrift and apparently drunken (though i would posit that perhaps they've woken up to the fact that there's no way they can get ahead in this world so they might as well have a bit of fun with their money).

But for the record, i earn nothing near $2000 a week and i live in the outer Northern suburbs of Brisbane. My problem is that I have never followed the money, instead, I choose to use my tertiary education to help others in my community and chose a house within my means. Unfortunately, I would have been better off being a traffic controller as you suggest.

But i suppose that's my stupid fault for not being greedy enough - i just tend to value some things higher than the almighty dollar - silly me.

*underpinned by capitalist greed*

It's not capitalism that is greedy, Saoirse, its a whole lot of people. For some reason a good bulk of them, always want more.
Personally I am in favour of capitalism, as I think I know what is
best for me, rather then the Govt. Under any other system, its
Govt officials who become the greedy pigs, at the expense of all
the rest.

Politicians generally do what gets them over the line at the next
elections. Given that most people already own a house or two,
there are no votes in changing the economic system, to lower house
prices and reduce interest rates, so it doesen't happen. So you are
outvoted by the majority.

People get the politicians that they deserve and in our case, its
not the smartest, alot of the time.

Perhaps you could move to the country. Cheaper houses, friendlier
people, grow your own stuff and worry less about money.