Australia’s Housing Crisis Needs More Than a Renovation
Ambitious reforms, including the European model of long-term rentals, must be on the table.
Dire housing affordability has dominated Australia’s election campaign.
Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams/Bloomberg
Perhaps no other movie depicts the Australian Dream of owning a home more than the 1997 classic comedy The Castle, in which the Kerrigan family takes on developers to save their house.
Fast-forward 28 years and nobody is laughing. For the first time, Millennial and Gen Z voters will outnumber those aged over 60 at polling stations on Saturday. Housing is a — if not the — top concern in this federal election. Most are resigned to never being able to get into one of the world’s most unaffordable markets. Policies put forward by the two major parties are unlikely to make things better.