CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A perfectly good 5-bedroom home that sits vacant within walking distance of a local railway station and shopping centre, might be put to good use after all.
That’s according to some local youths who are considering making the most out Australia’s manipulated property market that sees one lucky generation of post-war Australians hoarding a the vast majority of our nation’s wealth and dwellings, while single parent families are pushed into homelessness as they sit on public housing waitlists with thousands of other vulnerable Australians who have been struck down by hard times.
The 2021 Census revealed that 10.1% (1,043,776 homes) of Australia’s 10,318,997 private dwellings were unoccupied on the night of the Census. This number could be much higher, given the domestic spending spree that Australian boomers have been on since they were prevented from travelling overseas for two years during the pandemic.
Australia’s hysterical property market is now at the point where government interventions and neoliberal policies mean that baby boomer land owners and foreign investors can accrue wealth by simply land-banking residential properties that rise in value while sitting empty, without the nagging of annoying tenants begging for the toilet to get fixed.
Meanwhile, the rental market is also very favourable to those same property investors that are kind enough to allow people to live in their property. Rental growth has averaged 9.1 per cent per year for the past three years, in stark contrast to the average rate of annual growth of 2 per cent during the 2010s.
A recent survey has found 82.5 per cent of renters have been subjected to a recent increase in their housing costs.
As a result, 84 per cent of tenants have been forced to cut back on spending and other costs, as owners pass down every cost and risk associated with their investment to the poor people who weren’t able to buy homes for less than 100k in the 1980s on a single income.
However, while the kids might not be able to find somewhere to live, that doesn’t mean they can’t find somewhere to party!
As vacant property registries begin popping in Australia’s capital cities to encourage squatting. It seems that the generational disadvantaged youth are also identifying land-banking assets that could be used to host raging house parties.
Do your best kids!
P.S. Massive open house party at 88 Birdsville Drive, South Betoota. Owners live interstate. DJ organised. BYO GROG. No fighting. LETS TRASH THIS MOTHERFUCKER!
