Housing versus Wages in Australia 1970-2019

In the USA, you can buy a house for between 2 and 10 times your wage. This is a fact based on the census. The average wage can pay for the average house, within 2 to 10 years, depending on where in the US it is.

Where I live, which is thought to be a relatively affordable place, the median house price was $36,000 in 1980, and its $445,000 in 2019. Thats more than 12 times more!

Have a look at this graph. Politically, the Country was governed by the Liberals, and economically the country was in surplus, and ultimately voted out when the party tried to strip workers of rights to wrongful dismissal and penalty clauses and rates. A step to far to Liberalism ideals perhaps.

During this period, infrastructure spending was low, and user pays concepts were viewed favourably.  The Australian dollar was 40c US in 2002, and gained to be over parity in 2014.

The Australian Dream - all but gone in 2019

Australians used to have a simple yet attainable dream of their quarter acre piece of land with a home on it, and a car in the driveway, with an ample nest egg for retirement, in exchange for 40-50 years of working and contributing to society.

This seems idealogical in 2019 and even borderline crazy talk.

Take a step back in time and it wasnt uncommon for a two parent, two child household to:
own and run a car, or even two
put kids through school
clothe, feed and tend to medical issues
put presents under the christmas tree and give birthday presents
and more..

from just one working wage.

And not only that, the working wage didnt have to be above the average. In fact, if you had an assembly worker's job at a manufacturing plant (remember those), you could live a humble living and make ends meet.

In fact, in 1980 in Adelaide, the median house cost $29k and the median wage was $9k. Obviously this equates to the cost of a house being, on average, 3.2 times the annual earnings.

In 2019 the average is $455k for a home and $54k for a wage. In Sydney $1.1m for a home and $68k for a wage. These figures represent housing that's between 8 and 17 times a working adult's wage. And its just the average.

And the effect is real. Its in mental health. Societal imbalance is the result, and that causes tension and angst and health issues.

In the mean time, full time work is at an all time low, under working is at an all time high, and people are dropping like flies with 'personal issues'.

Its not a coincidence.

No Government could fix this as its been 3 decades in the workings, through 3 housing booms, but any Government that has the courage to tackle it, has my vote.