Homeowner Guilt

An Australian columnist discusses the unfair disparities in home values Down Under.

1 minute read

November 24, 2003, 12:00 PM PST

"Our house has at least doubled in value since we bought it 10 years ago, or so I'm told. It's a typical Sydney story...we've done absolutely nothing to deserve this windfall...Too many people in Sydney, and too little land, did the work for us, driving up the prices...This ludicrous house-price inflation, if it continues, will eventually force my children, along with other first-time home-buyers, into outer Mongolia...House price inflation is crazy, it's destructive, it helps no one except speculators and real estate agents...[certain government interventions] could help modify the crazy house-price inflation. Instead we pay millions of dollars in first-homeowner grants to people who don't really need the money. Most recipients would buy a house without the grant, just not quite so soon...Millions of Australians need secure, stable, decent housing and can't afford it...We need some government intervention to make the housing market sensible and fair."

Thanks to David Gest

Read the full story: Caught in the poverty of wealth

Friday, November 21, 2003 in The Sydney Morning Herald

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