I was just watching the news as I am getting ready to travel interstate when I heard that rent is going to increase by 50% over the next four years. Holy crap! Where on earth are we going to get the money to fund that? As Gordon Ramsey would say, ‘F*** me!’.
Being the internal optimist (hey even my grade criteria is optimistic) I was thinking so what does that mean for me and people like me who are the lower end of the middle class? The reality is this: either find a way to make more money or kiss the dream goodbye. It’s no longer just out of my reach… it’s miles out of my reach. It’s so far out of my reach that I would have to stretch further than plastic man!
You know what I have learned from this whole thing… there is a reason you need faith some times. The current situation only suits those that have money and can make a fist of it. Those that have a bit or a little more than a bit are stuffed. What I want to know is why are we tolerating it?
So to finish my morning rant I have to say this: what’s the answer? This is, after all, the problem solving blog. I have heard a great majority of answers but for me only one real answer springs to mind:
I need a miracle.
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April 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Miracle? It is about spiritual dimension in our life, right? Should people turn to spiritual aspect when they get exhausted in physical means or how ? I like to know from you.
April 5th, 2008 at 3:36 am
First, it’s not a problem, it’s a prediction.
What assumptions is this prediction based on? That demand for rental property will increase more quickly than supply and, implicitly, that this will occur despite increasing rents.
And why will demand increase? The argument seems to be that would-be homeowners will be unable or reluctant to buy property, and will choose to rent instead. All else being equal, that should lead to stable or falling house prices, incentivising or enabling the would-be homeowners to buy rather than rent.
So what’s going to stop that happening? Well, maybe investors will be tempted by the prospect of rising rental income to buy in order to let… but that would increase the supply of rental properties and act against the tendency for rents to increase…a miracle of sorts, perhaps.
One final thought. Landlords can only increase rents if there are tenants who are prepared to pay the higher rent. If, miraculously, tenants collectively elected not to pay any increases, there would not be any!
April 5th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Googling the source of this story led me to this link: http://cij.inspiriting.com/?p=217
…further food for thought…
April 5th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Fazrul,
I am not sure I completely understand your point of view but here is my take (throw away if you disagree). I do not believe in a ’spiritual dimension’ I believe in spirit as a non-essential multi-dimensional ‘manifold’ reality specifically (in my case) from a Christian world view (albeit somewhat fractured). When I said miracle in this sense I was using sarcasm… (though I believe in miracles) not necessarily saying that I turn to the so-called spiritual dimension when I face a crisis. I was being ironic and cheeky. A dimension of systems thinking is irony. Churchman loved doing it and so do I. Didn’t mean to offend. If I did I apologise.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Alan,
Interesting link thanks for that. I had a thought when I was in Armidale collecting a degree today. I think the media have hyped this up to such an extent that it has become a crisis. It also works as a handy excuse to explain the rates of homelessness and their increase. Which of course can be caused by a variety of other factors.
Jokes and silly short posts aside. Here’s a problem I have seen emerging on the Sunshine Coast. Increased upper end demand, decreasing over all supply PLUS a general lack of purchasing power.
I will leave the people of the sunshine coast to figure out how they will buy invisible homes with no money.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:43 am
The media engineer crises in response to non-media stimuli. Who benefits from this “crisis”?
(You are cordially invited to visit my new blog “Thoughts on Thinking: The thinking person’s guide to the thinking person”. You get a mention, of course!)