More magical thinking from the fake left as it whines about the inequality it creates with its own policies. The Guardian:
Australia’s wealth gap has continued to grow over the past two decades, with superannuation and property investment driving inequality across the country, a new report from the Australian Council of Social Service and the University of New South Wales has revealed.
Over the past two decades the average wealth of the top 20% has grown at four times the rate of the lowest, the report has shown using figures from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data in 2019.
Australia’s wealthiest 20% were worth an average of $3.2m in 2019 – six times the amount of the middle 20%, who were worth an average of $588,000, and 90 times that of the lowest 20%.
The number one cause? Mass immigration creates a perpetual housing imbalance that drives up prices.
Immigration is housing affordability enemy numero uno:
- Were it not for John Howard ramping it up from 2003, prices would never have rebounded from he Sydney Millennium bust.
- It was central to Kevin Rudd’s post-GFC stimulus that short-circuited the correction.
- It was the primary driver of recovery after the mining crash of 2012.
Other factors played a role. Demand stimulus and tax incentives, but mass immigration is the key long-term driver. Every property developer knows it, which is why they defend it to the death
Shane Oliver puts it well:
“Up until 2005 the housing market was in rough balance. It then went into a massive shortfall of about 250,000 dwellings by 2014 as underlying demand surged with booming immigration. This short fall was then cut into by the unit building boom and we nearly got back to balance in the pandemic”.
“A rebound in underlying demand on the back of this year’s immigration surge and weak completions has now pushed the shortfall back up to 120,000 and by mid next year it will be around 165,000. This makes no allowance for the pandemic induced fall in household size which could take the shortfall up to around 285,000”.
“Meanwhile the surge in immigration has pushed underlying demand for homes to an average 220,000 dwellings over the three years to 2025. But thanks to rate hikes and capacity constraints dwelling completions look like averaging around 175,000 which means a new shortfall each year of about 45,000 dwellings adding to the already existing shortfall”.
“The housing shortfall is confirmed by record low rental vacancy rates”.
Yet the fake left would rather die than discuss immigration and would increase it and wealth inequality even more if it could.
At least the fake right owns its trickle-down corruption. The fake left is either too stupid or holier than thou to do so.
