- Alan Kohler made a sad confession about owning a home
- He said the dream of a house with a backyard ‘may be over’
Alan Kohler has admitted the Australian dream of owning a house with a backyard “may” be over for aspiring homeowners.
ABC’s financial expert made the somber admission on Q+A Monday night.
A young man named Samuel wondered if the ‘Australian dream of a house with a backyard in a city is over for my entire generation?’
Mr. Kohler replied simply, “It could be.”
“The backyard has really become expensive, especially if it’s close to the city,” he said.
“I think we’re in a situation now where if we want a backyard, we have to move a long way out of the city.”
Minister of Housing and Homelessness Clare O’Neil noted that Mr Kohler made a “good point” but stressed that the government is “trying to do everything (they) can” for young people.
“If you want more space, you may have to move further out of town, but what we really need are lots of options for young people like you,” she said.
ABC financial expert Alan Kohler made the somber admission that the dream of a house with a backyard in Australia ‘may be over’
‘And right now there isn’t enough, but our government is doing everything it can to create more.’
Shadow minister Michael Sukkar said the Coalition did not consider the “back garden” to be dead, but that people may have to move further away for the “traditional 800 square metre block”.
“If you look at the current housing market in Australia, detached homes are the cheapest form of housing,” Mr Sukkar said.
‘That is the domain of first-home buyers, because construction costs are different than elsewhere.
‘So I would say that no one in the coalition considers the backyard to be dead, but the truth is that in the absolute inner-city neighborhoods that may no longer be the case as it was in the past.’
In April it was announced that house prices in Australia’s capital cities had risen by as much as 20 percent over the past year.
In Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, house prices reached record highs, while in Sydney house prices were just 1.4 per cent below their level two years ago.
Perth led the way in price growth, with the average house price rising by almost $142,000 to $735,276. However, all capital cities except Darwin and Hobart saw significant price increases.
In Brisbane, the annual price rose by 15.9 percent, bringing the average price to $909,988.
A young man named Samuel wondered if the ‘Australian dream of owning a house with a backyard in a city is over for my entire generation?’ (stock image)
Prices rose by $137,968 in a year and by $10,514 in a month in a city with a population growth of 3.1 percent.
In Sydney, the average house price rose 10.7 per cent over the year to $1,414,229. That’s an increase of $183,648 on the year before, including a one-month increase of $18,425.
Despite the increase, house prices in Australia’s most populous city were still 1.4 percent below their January 2022 peak.
