- Alan Kohler made a sad admission about owning a home
- He said the dream of owning a property with a backyard “might be over”
Alan Kohler has admitted the Australian dream of owning a house with a backyard “might” be over for aspiring homeowners.
The ABC financial expert made this grim admission in a Monday night interview.
A young man called Samuel asked if “the Australian dream of having a house with a backyard in a city (was) over for my entire generation”.
Mr. Kohler simply replied: “It could be.”
“Backyard real estate has gotten really expensive, particularly close to the city,” he said.
“I think we’re in a situation now where if you want a backyard, you’re going to have to move pretty far out of town.”
Clare O’Neil, Minister for Housing and Homelessness Mr Kohler said he had made “a good point” but stressed that the government was “trying to do everything it can” for young people.
“Maybe if you want more space you’ll have to move further out of the city, but what we really need is lots of options for young people like you,” he said.
ABC financial expert Alan Kohler has made the grim admission that the dream of owning a home with a backyard in Australia “may be over”
“And right now we don’t have enough; our government is trying to do everything it can to create more.”
Shadow minister Michael Sukkar said the Coalition did not consider “the backyard to be dead” but agreed people might have to move further out to get the “traditional 800 square metre block”.
“If you look at the Australian housing market at the moment, the cheapest form of housing is the single-family home,” Sukkar said.
‘It is the territory of those who buy their first home because construction costs are not the same as in other places.
‘I would say that no one in the Coalition would consider the backyard to be dead, but the truth is that it may not be the case in those absolutely central suburbs as it has been in the past.’
In April it was revealed that house prices in Australia’s capital cities had risen by up to 20 per cent in the past year.
Property values hit record levels in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, while Sydney was just 1.4 per cent below its peak two years ago.
Perth led the price increase, with the median house price rising by almost $142,000 to $735,276, but all capital cities except Darwin and Hobart saw significant price increases.
Brisbanes saw annual price growth of 15.9 per cent, taking the median price to $909,988.
A young man named Samuel asked if “the Australian dream of having a house with a backyard in a city (is over) for my entire generation” (file image).
Prices rose $137,968 in the year and $10,514 in the month in a city with a population growth rate of 3.1 percent.
Sydney’s median house price soared 10.7 per cent over the year to $1,414,229, up $183,648 from a year earlier, including an increase of $18,425 in one month.
Despite the rise, house prices in Australia’s most populous city were still 1.4 per cent below their January 2022 peak.