A popular YouTuber has given a simple reason why Australia’s housing crisis has gotten out of control despite the country’s enormous size and vast amount of building space.
The video shared this month by UK-based YouTuber Dominik Presl notes that Australia is a rich, vast country with some of the highest salaries in the world, “so it should have abundant and affordable housing.”
But he went on to explain that the traditional “Australian dream” of owning a home could be the reason why the housing market is in such a bad state, with Australians unwilling to budge despite restrictions imposed by a country. modern and rapidly growing.
“Australia is one of the emptiest countries in the world, with only 3.38 people per square kilometer,” Dom said.
“Logic would dictate that with high wages and large amounts of land housing would not be a problem, but in reality it is the opposite and has some of the least affordable housing in the world.”
YouTuber Explained with Dom has said the ‘Australian dream’ of owning a home is at odds with the reality of modern Australia.
A recent study has listed Sydney as the second most unaffordable city in the world after Hong Kong.
“The housing problem is going nowhere because Australia has locked itself into a trap of its own making,” Dom said.
‘The Great American Dream was about getting to the top with nothing but hard work, but since the 1950s, a central element of the Australian Dream has been owning a home. “It was a sign of stability and prosperity.”
The YouTuber explained in 1970 that the average salary in Australia was $4,200 and the average house price in Sydney was $18,700.
In 2023, the median salary rose to $74,000, or 17 times what it was then, but the median house price in Sydney soared to 80 times what it was, $1.5 million.
‘Buying a home is increasingly impossible for most Australians and the reasons for the housing crisis are simple.
‘At the base there is supply and demand.
‘Almost 90 percent of the Australian population is concentrated in cities and 40 percent only in Sydney and Melbourne.
“Although Australia has a lot of land, almost everyone wants to live in the same place where land supply is limited.”
Almost 90 percent of the Australian population is concentrated in cities and 40 percent only in Sydney and Melbourne, he explained.
He then noted that if everyone concentrates on cities there should be a push to build high-density residential areas.
“But this is not what is happening, cities are moving towards single-family homes and they simply cannot build enough to accommodate everyone.”
‘Melbourne already has an area six times the size of London and has only half its population.
‘So supply is low but demand is high due to factors such as a growing population and tax breaks that incentivize investment properties.
‘Australia has brought in an average of about 400,000 immigrants a year over the last decade, double that of Canada and the United States.
“Immigration is how countries get richer, but if you want to have more people, a country has to be able to accommodate them and Australia is failing at this.”
He said Australia is failing to accommodate the migrants it is bringing in.
He highlighted how Australia’s population is expected to grow to 44,000,000 by 2067.
Dom said Australia cannot significantly reduce immigration because the economy depends on it as a workforce and for the money that comes in through avenues such as international student fees.
‘The only option left is to build more housing in the cities where everyone wants to live, which means building high-density housing and fewer single-family homes.
‘The problem is that Australians don’t want this.
“The Australian dream of everyone owning their own home is still very much alive, which means housing will become increasingly more expensive for everyone.”
The YouTuber claimed that to solve Australia’s housing problem, cities need to build high-density residential areas instead of single-family homes, but “Australians don’t want this.”