Home Ownership At Any Cost
Extract from SMH Business written by Mr CHRIS ZAPPONE. March 23, 2010 – 12:11pm.
“There is a big seduction that’s very powerful in this country of having your own home.” Australians are spending an ever-increasing amount on homes, seduced, to borrow psychologist Elisabeth Wilson-Evered’s term, by the dream of ownership. Indeed, there is sometimes a “sense of failure” if a couple is still renting when they marry or have children, said Professor Wilson-Evered, director of research at Relationship Australia Queensland. The home represents security and comes to embody a family’s very identity, even achievement. Ironically, Australians are engaging in increasingly risky behaviour to gain that security as they face the uncertainty that comes from a combination of the global economic crisis, labour market reforms and a widening gap between rich and poor. “Many Australians will do almost anything to purchase a home,” said Sydney University anthropologist Stephen Juan. “They will often take out loans far beyond their ability to repay them.”
Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches stated that the article provided some interesting topics that customers may experience when considering the high cost of home ownership.