A study by AMP reveals that Wollongong affordability of housing is fourth - behind Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The dream of owning their own home is slipping away from the average family as the gap between house prices and salaries continues to widen.
As Julius Sumner Miller would have said. - " Why is this so ? "
The problem is not the price of bricks and mortar. Where prices have surged the most is in the cost of that piece of land on which the house is built, and there are many causes for that which make little sense.
The law of commerce states that when an item is in short supply the price increases. As cities grow the land in the centre becomes more valuable, and that land decreases in price as distance extends to the extremity of the city. Government impact including zoning changes create price surges. Land set aside for commercial factories becomes more valuable than land for individual housing - and that zoned for high rise faces a similar increase.
Where this system loses the plot is when it comes to small country towns. The " short supply " argument fades to zero in towns like Cooma, with a population of about eight thousand people - sited in the middle of extensive grazing country.
Land owners wishing to sell, price blocks at a similar level to that on the outskirts of a city such as Wollongong - and that is completely unrealistic. It seems to be a mind set that defies all logic. There is absolutely no reason that land in a remote country town should have any relevance to that of land in a crowded city - but it does.
Many country towns deplore a steady population loss as residents move to the city, but if country land was available at reasonable prices there is a good chance that new industry and new people could find affordable housing a good reason to reverse that flow.
Surely the fact that many country towns have vast amounts of unsold building blocks stalled at ridiculous prices should see a return to sanity.
After all - what something is worth is in direct relation to what someone is prepared to pay for it !
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