Punk Human

WILD WEST PROPERTY MARKET FAILS TO DELIVER

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION URGENTLY NEEDED

An assessment of the Australian housing market leads to four important observations.

Firstly, many Australian cities and towns currently host properties that have remained unoccupied for many years. Some of these properties are boarded up; others are surrounded by wire mesh fencing; others still sit within unkempt jungle gardens. Likewise, many abandoned properties appear structurally sound and therefore ready for refurbishment or a direct return to market, but for some unknown reason continue to remain vacant. The salient point being that no person or family presently resides within any of these empty properties, when perhaps they could have and for some years had the government intervened.

Secondly, new housing in the form of luxury apartments is not suitable for accommodating most locals, as many cannot afford to buy or rent these properties. It remains to be seen just who precisely will purchase these ornaments. Perhaps, wealthy individuals will use these luxury items to park some money for a rainy day. Which in practice often means leaving the apartment empty. In short, without government intervention, more luxury apartments will appear, which remain quite useless to most of us. And, the improper use of domestic properties, such as deliberately keeping them empty after purchase, will persist, thereby limiting available housing stock.

Thirdly, a high number of residential properties are poorly utilised and are often kept vacant due to Airbnb profiteering. This business model commandeers ordinary housing stock causing the pool of residential properties available for locals to shrink and does so for the purpose of generating individual enrichment. The “holiday home” scheme makes it possible for landlords to realise their yearly rental targets in only a few months, by charging high rents to travellers. However, the same scheme in practice sees many properties left unoccupied for much of the year. Therefore, the Airbnb business model works against the housing interests of the wider community in which the “holiday home” is situated. Government intervention could correct these artificial vacancies by ensuring these properties are occupied for nine months or more per year.

Lastly, there is an increasing number of homeless people living on the streets and sleeping in doorways, under bridges, and on public benches. Some of them ride on public transportation just to keep warm. Others huddle outside shopping centres and train stations, sometimes begging for money or food. Many of these people have nowhere else to go. They have simply run out of accommodation options. Again, without government intervention, the number of people sleeping rough can only increase.

In sum, the continued absence of government regulation within the domestic housing sector has allowed a “free market” to flourish. But it is an unrestrained market that resembles the wild west and does not serve the accommodation needs of the local population. What the “free market” does do, however, is create and maintain an unregulated space where actions motivated by the desire for quick profits seemingly trump all other concerns, including ordinary human needs. To change this, any government of the day will need to adopt a brand new perspective.