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Comment by dbetteridge | Hacker News Reader

Yeah Melbourne and Sydney are just insane, First home owners grant is great on paper but essentially covers none of the expense of buying a first home and like you said encourages the prices to increase even further.

I'm on a decent salary by Australian standards and am going to be waiting at least 2 more years before I can afford a 10% deposit (have been saving for several years already at a lower rate).

Just have to hope all the decent land/houses are still around by then and that the house prices dont outpace my savings.

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I love, as an Australian, waking up in the morning seeing the Australians all talking. During the day it’s all North Americans, but obviously this is a game of time zones.

Anyway. I just wanted to say that, and also, this issue is seemingly everywhere. I’ve been in Toronto Canada for over a decade now and prices have gone crazy for almost that entire time. When i arrived a house in the city was 350-400k, that same house today might fetch 1.6m, or if renovated I’ve seen them sell for as much as $3.8m

I'm an Australian in London so for me its only mid afternoon :D

Goddamn those are some crazy numbers, how does anyone even begin to afford that? You'd be saving for 20 years just for a deposit....

I'm an Aussie in Europe now as well. Back when I lived in Sydney the average price of a home near where I lived was about 1.3 million, now I checked the prices last week and the estimated price is 2 million.

Somehow there was only a small dip in prices during the pandemic and now the property market is back on the boil again.

I honestly don't think any family without high dual incomes can actually afford a home now close to the city. The only places that are close to affordable for middle income families are far away from the centre.

It’s actually a lot worse than that. For properties over $1 million CAD, you are required to put down a 20% deposit. I came across an article not long ago that it would take the average household 30+ years to save the necessary down payment. I earn six figures and I’m single. I can’t afford to buy any time soon.

Toronto went through an insane boom, yes, but there was a period in I think the 90’s that was very quiet for property values, so some of it may have been pent-up demand.

And now they’re building like crazy, with people leaving in droves. Hopefully that’ll depress prices long-term.

The Toronto area consistently adds >100k people each year, and added a full mega-person in the last 5. We have never built units for 100k beds in any year in the last 20. Don't hold your breath.

I wonder how many beds are under construction right now. We may be only two out of that mega-person (lol) but we’re headed to a lake or another province within a year.

Condo rents have absolutely tanked, by the way

Immigration is a myth that real estate agents use to justify prices. Last year there were almost no immigrants and prices went up.

Consumer mortgage debt is directly correlated with housing prices in Canada. This plus constraints on permits for single family dwellings.

Drive around and have a look at some of the high end condo's at night - there are no lights on. Mostly dark.

The no capital gains and no inheritance tax loopholes in Canada will eventually be closed.

(https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/canada-popula...) percentage population growth 0.9% is very low based on historical standards.

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