In a bleak confirmation of feelings we’ve all been harbouring for some time now, the 24th ANUPoll has found that Australians are overwhelmingly pessimistic about their chances of ever owning a home.
Lead researcher, Dr Jill Sheppard from the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University said:
“The great Australian dream of owning a home is still considered a major part of the Australian way of life, but a vast majority now believe home ownership will be unachievable for future generations.“Young Australians are particularly pessimistic and have little faith that they will be able to buy a home and replicate the levels of home ownership of previous generations.”
Considering that members of previous generations seem to own about nine taxpayer-subsidised investment properties apiece, I’d say that that’s an accurate prediction.
The poll, titled Attitudes to Housing Affordability: Pressures, Problems and Solutions, surveyed 2,513 in March this year. The findings are pretty depressing. It’s one thing to have fears for your own future festering inside you in solitude; it’s quite another to find that literally everyone else is quietly abandoning hope as well.
87% of survey respondents are concerned that future generations won’t be able to afford their own housing. 68% of those who don’t already own a home feel like that will never change, indicating widespread sentiments that the housing market is locked up entirely.
And for those who already have a foot in the door, things aren’t great for them either – one in five are struggling to keep up with mortgage payments, and 23% saying they’d be in the shit if interest rates rose by 2%.
Over half of those surveyed support scrapping negative gearing and the capital gains discount.
The government is apparently preparing a housing affordability package to reveal in next week’s federal budget, but considering they’ve been putting the boot in when it comes to young people’s futures so thoroughly and for so long, hopes are not high.
We’ve cooked the planet and now there’s nowhere to even bloody live while it goes up in flames around us. Hey Elon Musk, hurry up with that Mars program. I want out.
Source: ANU / The Guardian.
Image: Mark Metcalfe / Getty.
