lmost three-quarters of young Australians believe they will never be able to buy a home, as confidence in the housing market has flatlined over the past year despite house prices falling over the same period.An exclusive survey shows that a growing majority of people believe that the Australian dream is unreachable for the young and that state and federal governments need to launch radical interventions in the housing market to make home ownership affordable again.More Australians believe they have been priced out of ever owning a home.CREDIT:FAIRFAX MEDIAThe findings will heighten debate about how to solve the housing affordability crisis after Australians were hit by the largest fall in real wages on record this month and interest rates soared to a 10-year high.The new survey, conducted by Resolve Strategic for this masthead, shows 63 per cent of Australians now believe that the young will never be able to buy a home, compared to 57 per cent a year ago.The results are more stark when young people answer for themselves, with 72 per cent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 saying they will never be able to buy a house.This is despite prices for dwellings falling by 12.1 per cent in Sydney and 8.1 per cent in Melbourne last year, according to data firm CoreLogic.Grattan Institute economic program policy director Brendan Coates said most people were less confident about purchasing their first home because their capacity to borrow money had fallen by more than the decline in house prices.He said this was caused by the rise in the cash rate along with the government-regulated “serviceability buffer”. Banks have to assess people’s borrowing capacity at 3 per cent higher than the current borrowing rate.

The Albanese Labor Government is making the biggest investment in new social and affordable housing in more than a decade.The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund would deliver funding to build 30,000 affordable homes within its first five years - including:20,000 new social housing homes - 4,000 of which would be allocated to women fleeing domestic violence, and older women at risk of homelessness.10,000 affordable rentals for frontline workers like police, nurses and cleaners who kept us safe during the pandemic.$200 million to repair, maintain and improve remote Indigenous housing.$100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children leaving or experiencing domestic and family violence, and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness; and$30 million to build housing and fund specialist services for veterans experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.The Government will also guarantee in legislation a minimum disbursement of $500 million from the fund from the 2024-25 financial year, with that amount to be indexed from 2029 and can be raised at any time by a legislative instrument. If legislation was passed in June, funds would have commenced accruing and possible disbursements made in the 2023-24 financial year.The Greens don’t understand that enshrining the Housing Australia Future Fund into legislation is essential in creating an ongoing, secure source of funding for social and affordable homes that can’t be ripped apart by future conservative governments. This is very important. Unfortunately, the Greens and the Liberals have shamefully teamed up to block 30,000 desperately needed social and affordable rental homes by blocking Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund in the Senate.The Albanese Government remains committed to the Housing Australia Future Fund, but this won’t stop our government getting on with the job of making sure more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home.On 18 June 2023, the Albanese Government announced a new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator to deliver thousands of new social homes across Australia. This will increase housing supply sooner for Australians on social housing waiting lists, with all funding to be committed by states and territories by 30 June 2025.In addition to the Social Housing Accelerator, the Albanese Government has delivered on its housing agenda already by:Establishing the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee three months early, helping regional Australians purchase a home with as little as a 5% deposit and avoid paying Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance.Widening the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, making up to $575 million available to invest immediately in social and affordable rental homes, with homes already under construction as a result of this funding.Working with the states and territories through the National Housing Accord and National Cabinet to support planning and zoning reforms to contribute to our aspiration of building one million new homes over 5 years from 2024, as well as investing $350 million in additional federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable rental homes over five years from 2024 as part of the Accord – matched by the states and territories.Establishing the interim National Housing Supply and Affordability Council to provide expert advice to Government on housing supply and affordability; andWe are building on this agenda with a number of new measures in the 2023-24 Budget to assist Australians to find a safe, secure and affordable place to call home. In the budget, the Government is:Delivering the largest increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance in more than 30 years, with a 15 per cent increase in the maximum rates;Increasing the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s liability cap by $2 billion to provide lower cost and longer-term finance to community housing providers through the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator;Providing tax incentives to encourage more build-to-rent developments to boost new supply in the private rental market;Providing an additional $67.5 million of funding to the states and territories to help tackle homelessness challenges as part of a one-year extension to the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, which provides $1.7 billion a year to the states and territories for housing and homelessness services; andExpanding eligibility for the Home Guarantee Scheme, which helps people purchase a home sooner by reducing the deposit they need to save.The Albanese Government will also deliver in mid-2024 a National Housing and Homelessness Plan to identify the short, medium and long-term steps that can be taken to address housing issues in Australia, and will establish Help to Buy, a new program to make it easier and cheaper for Australians to buy a home.

The graph demonstrates that the household savings ratio (the % of income Australians choose to save) from Sept 2011 increased by 13.2% to June 2020 during the peak of the COVID -19 pandemic in Australia. Why would Australian's have looked to save more of their income during this time?(1 Point)Property values grew and so Australians 'wealth' grewBanks were offering higher interest rates for savings accountsCitizens were concerned about the economic stability of AustraliaThe Australian Dollar increased in value against the US dollar

Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said there had been a significant increase to the cost of lending to first homebuyers since the global financial crisis, and the 3 per cent buffer was discouraging banks from approving more mortgages.“That is the reason why it is much harder to become a home owner now than it was when interest rates were at 18 per cent in the 1980s,” he said.Reardon said changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax “will only make the situation worse – you can’t make houses cheaper by increasing the taxes on houses”.Home-buying hopeful Kiandra McDonell, 28, said she and her friends felt the property market had become almost impossible to navigate. “I’ve had friends talk to me and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to go in together and buy a house?’”First home buyer Kiandra McDonell thinks buying a property is “almost impossible”.CREDIT:CHRIS HOPKINSThe South Yarra renter was rosy about her chances of buying a home herself, but conceded she was putting more effort than was typical. “I don’t know if I’m just overly optimistic, but I don’t know if I would say it’s 100 per cent unattainable … [I still think] I can do it,” McDonell said.“I just have to work harder to do it and be a bit more strategic in my spending.”The Albanese government wants to set up a $10 billion fund to invest in new housing projects, with the aim of building a million new homes over five years, but it is yet to acquire support from the Coalition or the Greens to see the legislation through the Senate. The Greens do not think the package goes far enough.Reardon said the steps the government was taking were in the right direction, but the nation needed a million new homes a year to ensure the problem doesn’t get worse.RELATED ARTICLEExclusivePolitical leadershipAlbanese’s honeymoon period is over, but Dutton still trailsFederal Housing Minister Julie Collins said the housing fund would play a key part of the solution, adding it was the single biggest investment by the Commonwealth in social and affordable housing in more than a decade.“We’ll continue to hold constructive conversations with all interested parties, to ensure this vital legislation passes the Senate as quickly as possible,” Collins said.Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the government should take up the Coalition’s policy to allow first home buyers to invest up to 40 per cent of their superannuation, up to a maximum of $50,000, to purchase their first home.“It is disappointing that under this government home ownership is no longer a priority, with first home buyers at their lowest levels for over a decade,” he said.

The (modified) “stage 3 tax cuts” have been making the Australian economic headlines recently.  Do you expect that these cuts will have a significant impact upon Australians’ average cost of living?  Explain why or why not.

Over the three years (2015 - 2017), Brisbane median house prices are expected to rise by 15%. This will leave Brisbane house prices still just below their all-time peak in June 2010. Assume the demand for housing in Brisbane remains unchanged between 2008 and 2017. Which of the following statements is true? The demand for houses was smallest in June 2010. The demand for houses will fall with the rising price. The quantity demanded of houses will rise with the rising price. The quantity demanded of houses will fall to their lowest point in the last ten years by the end of 2017. The quantity demanded of houses at the end of 2017 will have fallen but not to their lowest point in the last 10 years.