Housing
Should we be more like Denmark?
There's a lot to like about Denmark's approach to mortgages, but transplanting it to Australia may not be optimal given our existing regulatory framework and housing policies.
Housing
Housing
Vienna's secret housing sauce
While Vienna's social housing model is often praised as a solution to housing affordability issues, its applicability to Australia is questionable due to differences in our institutions, as well as potential drawbacks in the Viennese system itself.
Housing
Is it time for housing coercion?
A more forceful, top-down approach might be the solution to Australia's housing crisis.
Population
Australia's demographic dilemma
Australia's migration slowdown will ease housing issues but exacerbate its ageing population and fiscal problems, requiring unpopular entitlement reform and improved fertility rates to sustainably fund old-age benefits.
Migration
Cutting migration won't solve the housing crisis
Peter Dutton claims cutting migration will free up over 100,000 homes and fix Australia's housing crisis. But his numbers don't add up and the impact will likely be minimal. Dutton's playing to anti-migration sentiment rather than addressing the real policy drivers behind unaffordable housing.
Housing
Let's not make the housing crisis even worse
The government's policies are unlikely to solve Australia's current housing crisis, which stems from both long-term zoning issues and a recent spike in construction costs. But it could be worse - at least they've avoided reckless ideas like rent freezes, which would devastate the housing market.
Housing
A public property developer won't fix housing
The Greens released their much-hyped housing plan last week and while I wouldn't normally give this much attention to a minor party's policy, it was just so full of well-meaning but really confused policy, I just had to weigh in. Before getting into it, I should
Population
How big is too big?
Dick Smith wants to cap Australia's population at 30 million over concerns about a lack of resources and housing costs. In doing so he falls for the 'lump of labour' fallacy, and fails Econ 101: it's poor planning, not immigrants, that erodes housing affordability in Australia.
Housing
Inching towards affordable housing
NSW, WA and SA have all announced steps that will increase housing supply. But to improve housing affordability for good, we need to ensure it's politically sustainable. That means communicating with locals and lifting density across entire cities, not just in 'well-located' areas.
Migration
Don’t blame immigrants for the housing mess
Whether immigrants fuel inflation is a complicated question, in part because there’s no single, uniform “immigrant”. Immigrants can be students, skilled workers, entire families, refugees, retirees, or backpackers. Their ages also vary, as do their consumption, savings, and working patterns. Each of those features, and how they all come
Housing
Inviting criminality
When you create a system that makes it costly to do things ‘by the book’ – common examples are drugs, guns and more recently, building houses – you alter the incentives that individuals face in their day-to-day lives. In the case of housing, strict planning and zoning laws create positive transaction costs,
Housing
Good news from Denmark
Denmark has a housing problem. Not Denmark the country, but Denmark Western Australia – population 2,375 – which happens to be the least affordable town in the state and “one of the most inefficient communities in WA when it comes to the balance between large family homes and smaller dwellings, with