No room for young Australians in the housing market?

WARNING: the nuclear family is being threatened.

Soon we will be forced to accept reality, pack up our things and say a teary goodbye to the great Australian dream of a spouse and children behind a white picket fence.

Is this just a conservative rant about marriage equality? Is it the ever-encroaching threat of global warming? Did the Mayans just mix their dates up a little bit, with the end of the world being December 2013?

No, no and no. Housing prices. The sleeper issue on which politicians have maintained a silent stance is gradually causing stress levels for young people to accelerate faster than a Tony Abbott faux-pas trends on Twitter.

With various taxes and policy, population growth and home buyers being constantly outbid by investors, housing affordability is the number one issue for young voters. To rent or to purchase? To work or to procreate? To bitch about living with your parents or to bitch about living on your own? These are the questions.

See, it turns out living in some of the most aesthetically-pleasing cities in the world has its drawbacks. Preparing to settle down is a seemingly impossible task when entry houses within 30km of the CBD are close to half a million dollars. Young couples feel faced with the choice of buying a house or starting a family – you can have one or the other, but both is out of the question.

As it stands, 30-40% of one's salary is expected to go on a mortgage on average. Given the housing market is dominated by private investors, rent has also soared to ridiculous heights, pushing low income earners in particular into housing stress, mental health issues and homelessness.

Amidst all the talk of boats, taxes, education funding and a faster internet, this is an issue politicians don't appear all that willing to mess with. Why? Arguably it's as cynical as not wanting to lose the crucial vote of the baby boombers, who dominate the private
housing sector.

On one hand, NSW Senator Doug Cameron recently claimed Labor has invested $30.1 billion in housing and homelessness, as well as a policy built around the rental assistance scheme to build tens of thousands of houses 20% under the market rate.

On the other, Liberal Party strategist Grahame Morris said a change of government is necessary to give people the confidence to invest and have a go at home ownership, although the Liberal Party is yet to detail its costings. Their Real Solutions booklet states they will work closely with the States and Territories to "reduce red tape holding up the supply of housing and construction" – that is all.

We tend to blame the government for this because shortage of land isn't the issue. We have more land per capita in Australia than anywhere else in the world, which makes these enormous prices bitterly ironic.

But perhaps the problem lies in Australia's social demographic itself. Whilst land shortage is not and never has been an issue, we all flood towards the one place: the CBD. The damn flurry of buzz, infrastructure and job opportunities that keeps traffic congested, air polluted and conveniently-located houses very, very high. Nobody wants to live on the edge of the urban fringe – and anyone that has taken a sweaty, smelly, overcrowded train from the city to the western suburbs at 6pm could tell you why.

Maybe we're just spoilt. Maybe we're unrealistic in our post-mooching-off-our-parents expectations of owning a modest home near the city. Maybe we should ease up on blaming the government and instead nag them to help those that are homeless or actually severely struggling to make ends meet. Maybe we should take a deep breath and consider purchasing a house – dare it be said - out there.

The only problem with living out there is that the further out there you go, the less jobs you will find due to less infrastructure and overall activity, and economic hot-spots out there face similar problems with housing affordability. Perhaps federal, state and local governments need to work together and focus on investing in economic growth in rural and semi-rural areas – areas that are often neglected in favour of the big cities to which we all flock to congegrate. If we can encourage more job growth out there, it will ease up the demand to live in the city, and allow us to finally make use of the expansive array of empty space that currently just serves to "look pretty" (or slightly depressing).

Maybe we need to accept that the bottom rung of the property ladder doesn't allow us the luxury of ocean-side views and a five-minute stroll to work. Sometimes, we might even need to – wait for it – get on a train. Start on the outside and work your way in – that's how many older people will describe the property heirarchy.

It's a dilemma for various conflicting demographics, and it looks like an issue that won't adequately be brought to the limelight until after election day. Until then, young people are going to have to deal with these intense life decisions on their own – renting versus commuting, house ownership versus starting a family, dead money versus dead travel time.

To think the oldies say we have it easier than they did.