Comment:
Hahahah... and there will be some Australians who will be angry with this efforts (of lowering the prices of houses, and such campaigns), and say that this technqiue (or any other techniques) will NOT work (these are the already home owners, who spent tons of money, purchasing these expensive houses in the first place, and paying HIGH interest rates on home loans).
And there are some Australians, especially, the young and recently married couples, who will definitely agree that something need to be done in order to LOWER the 'ridiculously HIGH houses' prices (and also high houses' rentals). Just compare between the meagre salaries of ordinary layman and the rental costs (not including also the high personal income tax in Australia) to see the wide differences.
Its ridiculous that one has to work so hard just to pay the HIGH house rentals (and the big banks are laughing in their air-conditioned offices, on the HIGH interests charged on home mortgages and loans.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/9101416/house-buyers-strike-attempts-to-cripple-the-market(30 March 2011) House 'buyers strike' attempts to cripple the market
Yahoo!7 March 30, 2011, 1:41 pm An online campaign launched by tax reform group PROSPER has called on prospective to house buyers to abstain from buying at Australian auctions in the coming weeks. The social media campaign that is gaining traction on the popular activist site GetUp! argues that a widespread house purchasing strike will inevitably bring the prices down to a more affordable level. Australia is well known for its highly priced real estate and is considered to be one of the most overvalued housing markets, according to a survey conducted by the Economist magazine which calculated that they are 56 per cent over-priced. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics capital city price index Australian home prices have increased 77 per cent from December 2002 to the end of 2010. Prosper suggests that a house price bubble is 'imminent', stating that warnings have been issued by a long list of agencies and experts, including the IMF, the OECD, The Economist newspaper, Jeremy Grantham and Steve Keen. The campaign urges to people avoid buying into overpriced real estate and risk being hit with a severe housing price fall and overinflated debt repayments. "When the Great Australian Land Bubble bursts – just as land bubbles all around the world have – the freshest buyers are totally exposed. They face financial ruin as house prices fall below their debt. The crippling mortgage repayments become pointless,” Prosper campaigner David Collyer says. Collyer and Prosper say that a protest-like strike is the only way to respond to 'ridiculous' current land prices. "Some argue prices have arrived at a new and permanently high plateau, but the historical record shows reversion to the long term average – in every case without exception." Collyer says. The Prosper website notes that there are over 900 Melbourne auctions scheduled for the weekend and 2700 over the next three weeks. Prosper believes this enough to decisively tip the market into oversupply.
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Comment:
I don't know IF the 'expensive prices' for homes in Australia is something to celebrate, as poor and lower income group of Aussies will find it extremely difficult to own a decent home.
What's more, even professionals have to work early morning till night, day in and out, to earn a decent living, not forgetting that personal income taxes can range from 40 percent.
What we can 'expect to see' among Australians are:
1- More stress in today's and tomorrow environment
2- Most of the earnings are spent on 'entertainment', such as, heavy drinking and eating outs, as these working people barely have the time to cook decent meals, and drinks heavily to releave the stress of life.
3- More drinking and stress, will later impact the life expectancy of a normal Australian, hence, their lifespan will be shorter.
4- Also when Australians get older, they tend to be weaker, due to the hectic young life before. (i.e. You work like crazy when you were young, will that not have any impact on you later on?).
5- Thus, normal Aussies will need more medical care, and spend heftily on medical bills, which will cut into their hard-earn-savings like cheese. Hence, most of their hard-earned-wealth will diminish in a few years. And they will live an impoverish state/life.
http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Australian-houses-among-world-abc-1767598395.html?x=0 (24th January 2011)
Australian houses among world's most expensive
Monday, 24 January 2011, 11:33 EST
An INTERNATIONAL house price survey has found homes in Australia are the most unaffordable in the English-speaking world. The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey puts Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide in the top 3 per cent of the world's most unaffordable housing markets. The survey compared affordability by measuring median house prices against average household incomes. It looked at 325 housing markets in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong. Australia has what the report describes as the most intense housing stress, with homes costing six times the average household income. Report co-author Hugh Pavletich says it is an outrage that Australia's house prices are greater than the world's most populated cities. "Melbourne and Sydney are far more expensive in relation to wages than what London and New York are, so it's completely absurd. In fact, it's a national disgrace," he said. Mr Pavletich says the Australian housing market used to be rated as the most efficient market in the world, but Australian homebuyers are now getting the worst value for money. "There's been a tremendous degradation of the whole Australian residential construction centre by state governments and local governments losing control of their costs and starving land supply," he said, the high prices are mainly due to a lack of available land.
"It is really up to state governments and local governments to deal with this issue and make sure that lots on the fringes of the cities can be provided at $40,000 to $50,000 each, not the stratospheric prices that they are currently being charged," he said.
(Note: I don't see where the 'lack of available land' comes from, especially when, Australia is 20 times larger than Malaysia, 100 times larger than Singapore or Hong kong, 6 times larger than Spain, France and UK; IF the 'middle' land area of Australia is so-called inhabitable, then why the aborigines stay there, there is even an 'outback adventure package' by travel agencies, runs by Aussies, living and workings, in Alice Springs, Uluru, etc.. Need any more facts?!).
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