Briefs

The recent Senate report ‘Future role and contribution of regional capitals to Australia’ considered the role of regional cities in Australia’s future development, particularly as a way to reduce the congestion that is already a major impediment in the large state capitals.

The most recent ABS Survey of Income and Housing 2013–14 reveals that households buying their first home are older than they were over a decade ago. In 2000–01 over 60 per cent of first home buyers were aged between 25 and 34 years old, by 2013–14 that had dropped, with just under half (49.6%) of first home buyers being between 25 and 34 years old.

The cost of mortgages rose significantly in the 30 years 1981 to 2011. As Treasurer Scott Morrison identified in a recent speech, the ‘share of median household income spent on mortgage payments has increased by more than half for 25–34 year olds between 1981 and 2011 and more than doubled for 35–44 year olds, with each paying around 25 per cent or more of median household income on their mortgages.’

Between 2001 and 2006, the rate of growth in the number of households in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide was greater than the rate of population growth. This indicates that although the population was increasing the new households kept forming at a faster rate, meaning that there were dwellings available and affordable for them to move in to and ‘form’ households in.

Treasurer Scott Morrison, in his recent speech, emphasised the falling proportion of Australian households that own their own home. ‘Home ownership rates are falling across all age cohorts, but particularly for young Australians. Between 2002 and 2014, Australian home ownership among 25–34 year olds declined from 38.7 per cent to 29.2 per cent.