A popular Youtuber has given a simple reason why Australia’s housing crisis has spiralled out of control despite the massive size of the country and plenty of space to build.
The video shared this month from YouTuber Dominik Presl, who is based in the United Kingdom, points out that Australia is a rich and vast country with some of the highest wages in the world ‘so it should have abundant and affordable housing’.
But he went on to explain the traditional ‘Australian Dream’ of owning a house might be the reason the real estate market is in such poor shape, with Australians unwilling to compromise despite restrictions imposed by a rapidly growing modern country.
‘Australia is one of the emptiest countries in the world with just 3.38 people per square kilometre,’ Dom said.
‘Logic would dictate with high wages and vast amounts of land that housing would not be an issue, but in reality it’s the opposite and it has some of the least affordable housing anywhere.’
YouTuber Explained with Dom has said the ‘Australian Dream’ of owning a house is at odds with the reality of modern Australia
A recent study has listed Sydney as now the second most unaffordable city in the world after Hong Kong.
‘The housing problem is not going anywhere because Australia has locked itself into a trap of its own making,’ Dom said.
‘The Great American Dream was about rising to the top with nothing but hard work but since the 1950s central to the Australian Dream has been owning a house. It was a sign of stabilty and affluence.’
The YouTuber explained in 1970 the average wage in Australia was $4,200 and the average house price in Sydney was $18,700.
By 2023 the average salary grew to $74,000 or 17 times what it was back then, but the average Sydney house price soared to 80 times what it was at $1.5million.
‘Buying a house is becoming increasingly impossible for most Australians and the reasons for the housing crisis are simple.
‘At the base of it there is supply and demand.
‘Almost 90 per cent of the Australian population is concentrated in cities with 40 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne alone.
‘Even though Australia has lots of land almost everyone wants to live in the same place where the supply of land is limited.’
Almost 90 per cent of the Australian population is concentrated in cities with 40 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne alone, he explained
He then pointed out that if everyone is concentrated in cities there should be a push to build high density residential areas.
‘But this isn’t what’s happening, cities are opting for single family homes and you just can’t build enough of those to accommodate everyone.
‘Melbourne has already spread out to six times the area of London and has just half the population.
‘So supply is low but demand is high because of factors like a growing population and tax breaks the incentivise investment properties.
‘Australia has brought in on average about 400,000 immigrants a year over the last decade, which is twice as much as Canada and the US.
‘Immigration is how countries get rich but if you want to have more people a country has to be able to house them and Australia is failing at this.’
He said Australia is failing to house the immigrants it is bringing in
He highlighted how Australia’s population is expected to grow to 44,000,000 by 2067
Dom claimed that Australia can’t significantly reduce immigration because the economy is dependent on it as both a labour force and for the money it brings in through avenues such international student fees.
‘The only option left is to build more homes in the cities where everyone wants to live, which means building high density housing and less single family homes.
‘The problem is Australians don’t want this.
‘The Australian Dream of everyone owning their own house is still very much alive, meaning housing is only going to get more expensive for everyone.’
The YouTuber claimed to fix Australia’s housing problem cities need to build high density residential areas rather than single family homes but ‘Australians don’t want this’
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