8 Feb 2007

Housing Bubble Set To Explode, Social Crisis Looms

Rental crisis to worsen:
Mr Raine said the historically low vacancy rates were pushing rents higher, with no quick fix in sight.

Renters in south west and western Sydney for example could face rent rises from $50 a week by the end of the year, he said, adding that tenants could be forced to find an extra $150 a week in areas closer to the CBD.
Personally, I think that the bubble is set to burst - or at least start bursting - by the end of this year, so I don't think these rent increases will happen.

But such warnings highlight how the less-well-off have become increasingly marginalized under Howard, while the richest of the rich have grown obscenely richer. And that cannot be a good thing for a healthy society.

You end up with a crime-ridden underclass, a black market, jails packed to the rafters... Scenes all too familiar in other countries, but seldom imagined for the "luck country".