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.

Reading through recent discussions about housing affordability brings back memories of endless spreadsheet calculations and sleepless nights when I was house hunting a few years ago. The current debate about 2% deposits for $1.3 million homes has me both concerned and frustrated.

The numbers simply don’t add up. Someone earning $100,000 trying to service a $1.3 million loan isn’t just ambitious – it’s financially reckless. Even with government schemes offering to cover 40% of the purchase price, we’re still talking about massive repayments that would consume virtually every dollar of take-home pay.

The housing debate took an interesting turn this week when a property investor with 26 properties tried to blame immigration for Australia’s housing affordability crisis. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone, but it highlighted a deeper conversation we need to have about property distribution in our country.

Living in the inner suburbs, I’ve watched perfectly good houses sit empty for months or even years, while desperate renters compete for increasingly scarce rentals. Within a kilometer of my home, I can count at least ten vacant properties - some waiting for redevelopment, others seemingly forgotten by their investors. It’s a pattern repeated across Melbourne, where approximately 50,000 properties are tied up in short-term rentals like Airbnb.

The migration away from Sydney has become more than just a trickle - it’s turning into a steady stream. Reading through various online discussions recently, I’ve noticed a growing chorus of voices expressing their exhaustion with the relentless financial pressure cooker that Sydney has become.

Living in Melbourne, I often hear similar sentiments echoed through the corridors of my office building. The numbers tell a stark story: $9 sandwiches, $8 pies, and townhouses with seven-figure price tags that would make your eyes water. But it’s not just Sydney - these astronomical prices are creeping into every major Australian city.

The recent discussions about tax reform in Australia have got me thinking about how we keep circling the same drain without making real progress. Reading through various proposals and community reactions, it’s fascinating to see how deeply entrenched our resistance to meaningful change has become.

Remember the carbon tax? That brief moment when we actually led the world in climate action, only to have it torn down by political opportunism and vested interests. Now here we are, a decade later, still debating the same fundamental issues about tax reform, land use, and economic fairness.

The recent buzz about Amazon selling a $19K tiny home with a front porch got me thinking about our housing crisis here in Victoria. While scrolling through the comments about this bargain-priced dwelling, it became clear that what seems like a simple solution is actually a complex web of regulatory hurdles, council requirements, and industry resistance.

Living in a city where the median house price hovers around a million dollars, the idea of affordable pre-fabricated homes sounds incredibly appealing. But the reality is far more complicated than simply ordering a house off Amazon and having it delivered to your block of land.