Australia lags in home ownership
Australia’s housing undersupply has been recognised on a world scale, with research unveiled in the newly published Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report revealing that Australia’s home ownership rates are pale in comparison to international trends.
While many countries have experienced surges in rates since the 1990’s, Australia is one of just five countries to record a decline, according to Urban Taskforce’s chief executive Aaron Gadiel.
“Australia is grouped with Greece, Mexico, France and Luxembourg as countries where an increased share of the population can’t access a home of their own.
“Our citizens are losing the ability to have a home of their own, while in other countries more people are enjoying the benefits of home ownership,” he said.
Mr Gadiel steadfastly believes that Australia’s national housing undersupply of 200,000 homes is the result of our urban infrastructure system and has not been given the immediate attention it deserves.
“Our town planning laws, high development levies and lack of urban infrastructure investment have deprived Australia of the housing we need.
“The current situation is unsustainable but federal, state and local governments haven’t given this issue the priority it deserves,” he said.
The only way to improve Australia’s current position, Mr Gadiel believes, is for the Australian Government to step up and take action against the growing home ownership crisis.