Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I also grew up in housing commission and know too well the challenges of buying one's first home. I thank the member for Mayo for raising the issue of housing affordability. The Australian dream of buying a first home to start a family and raise your kids is now just that—a distant dream. According to an international study by Demographia, Sydney is now one of the top three most unaffordable cities in the world to own a home. ABS data shows that Fowler has the fourth worst housing affordability in Australia after Blaxland, Watson and Reid. This is before the upcoming interest rate rises foreshadowed by economists. In Fowler, where the median income is 20 per cent less than in the rest of Australia, homes have also hit the million-dollar mark.

One of my constituents, Simon Chau, came to our office. Twenty-seven years of age, employed and living with his parents, he was looking for a financially realistic option to buy a house. He wasn't optimistic that young people like him would ever own a home. I feel for young people like Simon. Many like him will be forced to rely on their parents as a guarantor just so they can enter the property market. The 'bank of mum and dad' is now the standard and no longer an anomaly.

Across NSW, the median house price is $1.1 million. I can't see how low-income families and young people can ever afford a million-dollar home, let alone a deposit. Homeownership is falling fast for this group of Australians. As many members have mentioned today, the Grattan Institute shows that homeownership rates amongst people aged 25 to 34 fell from more than 60 per cent to 40 per cent between 1981 and 2021. For low-income earners aged 45 to 54, homeownership dropped from 71 per cent to 53 per cent. A recent report from the ANZ says it could take nearly 11½ years for an average-income household just to save a deposit for a $750,000 home.

But housing affordability isn't just for those who have mortgages. It's also hitting the hip pockets of those who rent. According to ABS census data, 42 per cent of my electorate of Fowler rent rather than own their own home. That is nearly 10 per cent more than the national average. Fowler also has the fourth worst rental affordability in the country, and 46 per cent of our rental households have rental repayments 30 per cent more than their household income. With the cost-of-living crisis hitting the hip pockets of many Australians right now, how can people afford to save for a deposit while they pay rent? When they're struggling to simply put food on the table, pay for petrol and buy medication, how can hardworking families that are renting ever save enough to get off the rental cycle?

It doesn't have to be this way. There are measures both state and federal governments can take to ensure the next generation can afford to buy and live in their own homes. I look forward to seeing the federal government's plans for the upcoming budget, in particular to see how they will deliver on their promise to improve the 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties for our most vulnerable as well as for our frontline workers.

While I'm a huge supporter of migration and the contribution migrants make and will provide to our nation, I ask whether the government's plans to allow an intake of 190,000 migrants include measures to mitigate additional housing pressures on the migrants and first-home buyers who will be competing for housing. According to the Grattan Institute, building an extra 50,000 homes a year for a decade could leave Australian house prices five to 20 per cent lower than what they would have been otherwise. With close to 200,000 migrants proposed to enter Australia each year, even the building of an extra 50,000 homes would only accommodate their needs for a roof over their heads.

Let's look at how countries like New Zealand and Canada tackle housing affordability. The former has banned non-residents from purchasing homes, and the latter is introducing new measures to implement a ban for two years. With some of these measures in place, it will be a small but significant step to helping low-income households and young people buy their own homes.

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