1988 or 2017 - Lower Your Standards - Sydney

1988 or 2017 - not much is different or is it (apart from interest rates)? If this article was dated 2017....one would still believe it!

Mr Bevan said first home buyers could not afford in Balmain and they must face up to "lowering their standards"...

 

glad to see the fine tradition of stamp duty concession was alive in 1988

 

it's different now... they said 10% of FHBs could buy a house, the rest can buy a unit everywhere

today only 10-15% of buyers are fhb , and avg FHB loan is below 400K, and avg deposit ~60K, which means they can buy only a unit somewhere in 40km+ distance from CBD

avg age of FHB is also increased from 25 to 38(!) (harder to save for deposit)

 

I do not mind lowering my standards if vendors lower their prices. Someone needs to explain to me why a FHB would pay 400k for a post war asbestos riddled building when a new build costs the same, or less? The market is driven by speculative insanity not FHB's being too fussy!

 

That time when Newtown and Marrickville were basically the same price as Bankstown, Auburn, Fairfield, Lakemba and Liverpool. And Strathfield was one of the most expensive spots in Sydney.

How times change.

Yeah, I know lot sizes vary heaps between those suburbs but still.

 

Dragnet 80s classic.

 

Interesting to see prices in the outer west were only half that of some eastern suburbs. The disparity today would be several times more

 

Can anyone give me a brief history lesson on why Strathfield was once one of the most expensive spot in Sydney? I have only been living in Sydney for the past 15 years.

 

One person's insanity is someone else's paradise. It all depends which entrance fee you wish to pay.

 

it wasn't overpriced or too expensive. the old price is comparable to other suburbs

e.g. to Chatswood or Paddington
1988: 260K (C) -- 270K (P) - 260K (S)
2017: 2.5M (C) -- 2.3M (P) - 2.55M (S)

 

congregation of medical professionals and dentists

 

Strathfield, and some parts of Burwood, had many large well-built brick homes on large lot sizes (many built say 80 to 100 years ago). Reasonably leafy suburb, quiet but with a good shopping street (when I knew it well about 35 years ago). Good rail service also being at a junction of several lines.

Then the high rise apartments came along, demographic changed, and it all went down hill from there.........

 

Thanks, this is interesting!

after doing some googling i found out 1988 was after 39% growth in 2 years and Sydney was about to enter a period of price declines which lasted 8 yrs!! this included biggest recession in Australian history in early 90's...

Lower expectations for small units, or be very cautious?

 

just shows what immigration can do, BOOM

 

I also did a quick calculation on affordability then and now.

It actually shows that properties now a day are much more affordable compared to 1988 when you take into consideration average wage vs average property price.

 

Don't let the Millenials in on that secret. They will have to stop blaming us Boomers for all their problems.

 

The suburb used to have alot of big bikkies - oh! That's right, Arnotts had their factory there.

 

From memory, I'm sure Straithfield train station at one point was the most dangerous/or most incidents ridden station in Sydney.

Too funny lol. Even though life is not always smooth sailing all the time, I do think the opportunities for someone to improve their earning capacity is higher and also the opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge to work in a new industry. I'm sure there are quite a number of people in this forum who have transitioned to a property related gig or ventured out to a whole new industry.

But I do acknowledge that in some industries, the job security is almost non-existent and it may be a scary proposition for someone to consider taking on more debt when they have a young family to support.

 

There is no need to calculate it, that is already calculated and historical price-to-income ratio is known fact, today affordability is NOT better than in 1988. If you get different results, plz share your quick calculations.

 

We are also talking double income families here. How would affordability today look like if we were only talking single income households?

And not only that, interest rates its been the lowest its ever been. Imagine if interest rates spiked back up to 10% or even went back to 7%.