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Comment by Gigachad | Hacker News Reader

Same has been happening in Melbourne, Australia. The state government has basically steamrolled the boomers and allowed highrise construction next to existing train stations. Despite having huge population growth, rents are some of the most affordable in the country.

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One of the things I like about the reporting in this Austin article, is they break down by building class.

In Melbourne I've never found a good source for this, only general averages; and my suspicions are that we just build shitboxes and claim the rent is lower on average, capturing something like shrinkflation rather than affordability.

You should be able to identify properties and track them over time; and then even if you argue that "brand new condo" vs "same condo 10/20/30 years later" aren't directly comparable; well you can start to compare other metrics.

This is why I'm so sceptical about claims in Melbourne... If I look at properties I rented in the past, they are far less affordable.

But that's just the few I've looked through, not statistically significant.

I was apartment hunting in Melbourne in 2015 and I was appalled at the quality of most inner-city apartments. Tiny shoeboxes, no sunlight, paper thin walls.

At the time I didn't think they should have been allowed to be built. But looking back, they probably did keep a lid on rents. A bad roof over your head is better than no roof.

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