Not so long ago, Australia felt like a safe place to be.  Jobs were secured, and the dream of owning a house or a home was reachable.  Fast forward to 2023, employment security and housing are in total turmoil.

Are these two apparently independent dynamics under the same types of pressure, and/or can one explain the other?

The last half of 2020, and the first half of 2021, have both seen housing prices across the world dramatically increase; in America, prices rose by 11 percent during the period, the fastest pace in 15 years, while in New Zealand, house prices were up by 22 percent. As a result, many countries, including Italy and the US, implemented measures to protect mortgage holders against the risk of losing their homes. The reasoning behind this was that mortgages can go lower while wages are not rising, and many were becoming unemployed due to the pandemic.

Australia seems to be hit very hard by a significant house price growth (just under 20%).

To help us understand why Australia is experiencing a significant housing crisis, Brigit talked to A/Prof Ben Spies Butcher from Macquarie University   Ben is a Political Economist and has written for a very long time about the housing situation.