Abstract
Sydney now has the second least affordable housing market of 94 major global cities, and Melbourne is not far behind. Rents for houses and apartments surged by 16% and 20% over the past 12 months as immigration intake of 400,000 has pushed vacancy rates down to around 1%. In the thirty years from 1991 to 2021 Australia house prices increased by more than 400%. Prices surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, growing by 25% between April 2020 and February 2022. With the social housing segment comprising just 4% of all households many Australia, compared to 17% in the UK, 14% in France, 34% in the Netherlands and an average of 7% across the OECD, millions of lower income Australians are facing some of the most least affordable housing in the developed world. With the housing crisis set to sharply worsen what should we expect and what can be done?
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