The Housing Crisis: A Decade of Wage Stagnation and Its Devastating Legacy
Reading through recent discussions about Australia’s “lost decade” of wage growth has stirred up some deeply troubling thoughts. The latest research from Per Capita think-tank paints a stark picture of how the 2012-2022 period of wage stagnation has fundamentally altered the Australian dream of home ownership.
The numbers tell a devastating story, but they barely scratch the surface of what this means for real people. My daughter, now in her teens, often talks about her future, and I find myself struggling to give her honest answers about housing affordability without crushing her spirits entirely.
Looking back at the Coalition’s nine-year reign, their proudly announced wage suppression policy wasn’t just some abstract economic strategy - it was a deliberate choice that’s locked an entire generation out of the housing market. The tragic irony is that they’re now trying to pin the blame on the current government, barely eighteen months into their term.
Living in the inner suburbs, I’ve watched house prices soar while younger colleagues at work have given up hope of ever owning a home. These are skilled IT professionals with good salaries who, in any reasonable economy, should be able to afford a modest home. Instead, they’re trapped in an endless cycle of rising rents and declining prospects.
The parallel with conservative policies overseas is striking. Just like the Tories in the UK, our Liberal Party engineered a massive wealth transfer from working Australians to property investors and speculators. The results are predictable: skyrocketing homelessness, people living in their cars, and a generation forced to delay starting families because they can’t afford stable housing.
Politicians and property investors keep pushing the myth that this is all about supply, but that’s a convenient smokescreen. While we absolutely need more housing, the fundamental issue is the financialization of shelter. We’ve created a system where housing is treated as an investment vehicle first and a basic human need second.
The solutions aren’t actually that complex - we need meaningful tax reform around negative gearing and capital gains, stricter limits on property investment, and most importantly, policies that prioritize homes for living over homes for profit. But achieving these changes requires confronting some uncomfortable truths about who really benefits from the current system.
The next few years will be crucial. If we don’t take decisive action soon, we risk creating a permanent underclass of renters while a small minority accumulates ever more property wealth. That’s not the Australia I want for my daughter’s generation.
Right now, we need political courage to tackle these issues head-on. The housing crisis isn’t just about economics - it’s about what kind of society we want to be. Do we want to be a nation where everyone has a fair shot at a stable home, or are we content to become a two-class society of landlords and permanent renters?