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Welcome to Simple and Sustainable!

Simple (adjective)

not elaborate or artificial; plain: a simple style.
unaffected; unassuming; modest: a simple manner.
not complicated: a simple design.
not grand or sophisticated; unpretentious.

Sustain (verb)

to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.
to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.

This forum is dedicated to discussion of anything related to sustainability, and living the simple life. This includes (but is of course, not limited to) discussion about the sustainability of house prices in Australia, the economic situation, oil and energy, and anything around the home. Feel free to sign up and join us for a chat.

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Anybody surprised?

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Everyone has sources for things. Can we answer these recurring questions, with citations (preferably ABS or other government source, including the year the figures are for)? Then people can point to this post. This post can be updated whenever it needs to be. Add your favourite city if you want. Post at the end of this thread with any relevant information.

Current statistics:

32.6% of households own their house outright, no mortgage (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
27.2% of households rent (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
32.2% of households have a mortgage (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Median age of an Australian is __
Median age of a FHB is __
Mean age of a FHB with a mortgage is 32 (Ref: ABS 2008 FEATURE ARTICLE: FIRST HOME BUYERS IN AUSTRALIA)

Median individual income in Australia is $466/wk (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Median full-time income in Australia is ____
Median household income in Australia is $1,027/wk (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Median FHB mortgage in Australia is _____
Median mortgage in Australia in 2005/06 was $131,000 for OO and $202,000 for PIs (ABS 2009 Australian Social Trends)
Median household debt in Australia in 2005/06 was $50,500 (ABS 2009 Australian Social Trends)
Mean household debt in Australia in 2005/06 was $128,000 (ABS 2009 Australian Social Trends)
Median household assets in Australia in 2005/06 was $488,000 (ABS 2009 Australian Social Trends)
Median weekly rent in Australia is ____ (house)
Median weekly rent in Australia is ____ (unit)
Median weekly rent in Australia is $190 (combined) (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)

Median individual income in Sydney is $518/wk (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Median full-time income in Sydney is ____
Median household income in Sydney is $1,154/wk (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Median FHB mortgage in Sydney is _____
Median mortgage in Sydney is ____
Median household debt in Sydney is ____
Median household assets in Sydney are ____
Median weekly rent in Sydney is ____ (house)
Median weekly rent in Sydney is ____ (unit)
Median weekly rent in Sydney is $250 (combined) (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)

Population

Mean number of people per household in Australia is 2.6 (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
There are 8,426,559 dwellings in Australia (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
There are 830,376 vacant dwellings in Australia (9.9%) (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
Mean number of people per household in Sydney is 2.7 (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
There are 1,643,675 dwellings in Sydney (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)
There are 122,210 vacant dwellings in Sydney (7.4%) (Ref: ABS 2006 Census)

154,800 net migrants arrive in Australia each year (average 1999-2009) (Ref: ABS 2009 Australian Demographic Statistics)
50,700 net migrants arrive in Sydney each year (average 1999-2009) (Ref: ABS 2009 Australian Demographic Statistics)
23,800 net people leave Sydney each year (average 1999-2009) (Ref: ABS 2009 Australian Demographic Statistics)
265,900 people were born in Australia in 2006 (ABS Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2008)
133,700 people died in Australia in 2006 (ABS Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2008)
128,400 net natural increase (births - deaths) in Australia each year (average 1999-2009) (Ref: ABS 2009 Australian Demographic Statistics)
40,400 net natural increase (births - deaths) in Sydney each year (average 1999-2009) (Ref: ABS 2009 Australian Demographic Statistics)

Historical statistics:

2000s

House prices have increased at an average of __% each year between 2000 and the end of 2009
Rents have increased at an average of __% each year between 2000 and the end of 2009
Median house price in this period changed from ___ to ____
Median rent in this period changed from ___ to ____
The interest rate in this period changed from __% to __%
Median mortgage in this period changed from ___ to ____
Median household income in this period changed from ___ to ___
Population in this period changed from ___ to ___
Median age of a FHB changed from __ to __ in this period

1990s

House prices have increased at an average of __% each year between 1990 and the end of 1999
Rents have increased at an average of __% each year between 1990 and the end of 1999
Median house price in this period changed from ___ to ____
Median rent in this period changed from ___ to ____
The interest rate in this period changed from __% to __%
Median mortgage in this period changed from ___ to ____
Median household income in this period changed from ___ to ___
Population in this period changed from ___ to ___
Median age of a FHB changed from __ to __ in this period

(add more periods or longer totals if you find them interesting)

10 Steps to a Housing Disaster

Starting with only 21 million people and a giant island with 100 acres of land per person, how could we engineer some of the least affordable housing on the planet?

Here is a recipe to make housing unaffordable:

Step 1 - CHOKE NEW CITIES

Divide the island into 7 states and create one giant city per state. Force almost all the people into the giant cities with policies such as:

* All business zoned in the centre of the city
* All government departments must be in the capital city
* Non-giant cities given terrible infrastructure

With decent transport this gives 7 areas with 40km radius, approximately 1700 square metres per person. Still too much land to create a crisis!

Step 2 - CHOKE TRANSPORT

Neglect the transportation system so that it is not practical to live more than 20km from the city centre. This cuts us back to 400 square metres per person. Still plenty of space on average, but the largest cities will need some high-rise housing to get by.

Step 3 - CHOKE HIGH-RISE

Refuse permission for high-rise in many cases. Old suburbs must be preserved for the old people who still live there. No extra housing to be built for young families.

Step 4 - CHOKE LOW-RISE

Much land within range of the city to be kept off the market in the form of national parks, government land and farms without permission to subdivide. If you have 5 acre or 25 acre farms within reach of CBD then declare the area semi-rural and don't allow extra housing there. With policies like this even low-population cities like Darwin and Hobart can have a housing crisis!

The first four points will choke-off all avenues of extra housing supply, so now let's increase the need for extra houses - one house per family - by increasing the number of families.

Step 5 - HAVE LOTS OF BABIES

In 20-30 years they will leave home to start extra families.

Step 6 - INVITE IN MANY IMMIGRANTS

Why not increase the immigrant intake to record numbers?

Step 7 - DIVORCE IN RECORD NUMBERS AND LIVE LONGER

This will result in a declining number of people per household. We need more dwellings for a given number of people.

Now with the supply of extra houses choked and the need for extra houses increased, price will race upward, as the poorer families are priced-out of housing. Now let's goose the price even more with idiotic economic "demand side" techniques

Step 8 - LOWER INTEREST RATES AND LOWER LENDING STANDARDS

Instead of paying off a $100,000 house at 13% interest, why not service a debt of $500,000 at 7%. Why not use 80% of two incomes and eat poverty food for the rest of your life?

Step 9 - FIRST HOME BUYER'S GRANT

It won't create a single extra house, but it might drive existing house prices up.

Step 10 - TAX ADVANTAGE TO SPECULATORS

With prices racing up, beyond the reach of first home buyers, give more money to those people most capable of driving prices even higher. Use government tax money to encourage rich people to borrow money and buy existing housing to rent-out to poor people. We can pretend that this creates extra cheap housing and is good for the poor people.

Step 11 - A WORLD-WIDE CREDIT BOOM AND ASSET BOOM

Improper to include in the list of 10, but it doesn't hurt to mention it.

.....

Poking Demand and Choking Supply

Government has done something very bad to the supply and demand of starter homes which has led to outrageous prices of starter homes, and supported much higher prices of better homes. In short, government has poked the demand and choked the supply of starter/marginal/extra homes.

Poking Demand:

* Government brings in many immigrants

Choking Supply:

* Government refuses permission to build extra housing on the fringe or extra units in the city, and new cities
* Government adds taxes, charges and levies to extra housing
* Government requires onerous compliance with regulations
* Government creates delays in approving dwellings.
* Government neglects transport and other infrastructure which reduces the area in which well-located and well-serviced homes can be built

There is much debate on which of the five chokers (refusal, taxes, compliance, delays, neglect) is the biggest and baddest. Interestingly, if refusal is the big one, then lowering taxes will give a windfall to developers, whereas if refusal is a small one, then reducing taxes will cause a drop in prices. This debate is fascinating from an academic point of view, but rather pointless if the aim is to solve the housing crisis.

It is like watching a man being attacked by five dogs and debating which dog has the bigger bite. Far better to chase off ALL the dogs and save the man.

Hello Simple Sustainablites!

Here's the link to a great brochure produced by Bubblepedia about thew madness of unaffordable housing in Australia. I'm going to print a few out and give them to a few people I know.

http://www.bubbleped...s_parentId=3292

G.