Dream Away? The Decline of Home Ownership in Australia

The Flinders Institute for Housing, Urban and Regional Research, Flinders University presents a seminar by Associate Professor Joe Flood, School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management, Flinders University.

Although the last decade should have been a dream period for home purchasing, with plentiful housing finance and low interest rates, home ownership rates have fallen and income inequality has risen. Like debt, house prices rose explosively between 1996 and 2006, placing home ownership just out of reach of marginal purchasers. There is now a largely unacknowledged, but significant deficit in home
ownership. Much of this has been disguised by demographic trends - most notably the ageing of the population. In addition to disguising changes in home ownership levels, the research finds that demographic and social change has also fuelled inequality in homeownership, most importantly through declines in levels of household formation and inheritance.

For more information see attached flyer.