Australia - Unaffordable

Ok, a little bit of a rant session. Over the last decade or so, it has felt that housing in Australia, or at least Sydney, has become an impossible reality for my generation. Now for some numbers that prove it. An article that I found online about the most unaffordable cities in the world to live in:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Sydney-and-Melbourne-homes-just-not-affordable/2005/04/13/1113251680813.html

Of the top 17 cities listed as unaffordable, 6 are in Australia. Why is this?

Well a decade ago, some genius decided to change the foreign ownership laws in Australia. Before, only 25% of an apartment building could be owned by foreign interests. This was changed to 75% which means a lot of money from Asia flowed into Australia. Simple economics - supply is the same but demand has gone through the roof, which means prices can only move up.

I find it EXTREMELY offensive that I can't afford to buy a property in my own country but foreign interests can.

Then we have politicans talking about how to make housing affordable in Australia. If they are serious about this, they would immediately change this horrible law they passed years ago. That isn't about to happen so we will go on hearing these empty sound bites on the news about how they are concerned about the problem. Give me a break!

These days if you can find a 2 bedroom apartment in a dodgy part of Sydney for under $500,000 - you'd be doing well. It isn't like our incomes are much higher to justify this, actually the opposite is true. I was amazed to find out that a teachers starting salary in Canada was around $40,000pa. In Australia, you'd be lucky if a teachers starting salary was $30,000.