00:00I will never be able to afford to live where I grew up. I won't be able to afford to live
00:06anywhere in the vicinity of where I grew up. For Alex Moore, that place is Kiama on the
00:12New South Wales South Coast, where the 21-year-old honours student lives with his parents.
00:17It's a wonderful place to grow up. It's a less good place to be 21.
00:20The median house price in Kiama is just shy of $1.5 million, making it the most expensive
00:27LGA in regional Australia. If you go by electorate, the least affordable is Richmond, where the
00:33median household is paying half of its income on rent, and would need more than 16 years
00:39to save for a 20% deposit.
00:41My policies just seem to be benefiting property investors.
00:44Social worker Shondray McSweeney lives in a share house in Mullumbimby with four other
00:49people to make rent more affordable.
00:52It is a dream to buy a house, but I just don't think as a single person that is a possibility.
00:57This election, Labor has promised to guarantee home loans with a deposit of just 5%, while
01:04the opposition wants to let first home buyers dip into their superannuation and claim mortgage
01:09interest as a tax deduction.
01:11What I think would speak to me more is if they would bring down housing prices or even
01:16rent prices as well.
01:18Experts warn both Labor and the Coalition's plans to help first home buyers are likely to
01:23drive up house prices even more, leaving many young people locked out of home ownership
01:28in their own town, and young voters considering other options.
01:32Where's long term vision for people of my generation? I just don't see any of it for neither of the
01:36major parties.
01:37The status quo just continues to keep on keeping on. So we really need to unwind the tax incentives
01:43that got us into this challenging situation.
01:47Like many coastal towns, Kiama has seen an increasing number of homes being used as short
01:53term rentals.
01:54That just means that it's not a rental property for someone living in that town. That's one
01:59fewer home for a young person that's looking for somewhere to live.
02:03It's very difficult to have this idealism that we could have a better world when you're looking
02:08right in front of you and there's just no future ahead of it for you.
02:11A sentiment that could make a difference at the ballot box moving forward.
Comments