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  • Quarterly Essay 92: The Great Divide

  • Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix It
  • By: Alan Kohler
  • Narrated by: Alan Kohler
  • Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (19 ratings)

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Quarterly Essay 92: The Great Divide

By: Alan Kohler
Narrated by: Alan Kohler
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Publisher's Summary

One of the great mysteries of Australian life is that a land of sweeping plains, with one of the lowest population densities on the planet, has a shortage of land for houses. As a result, Sydney’s median house price is the second most expensive on Earth, after Hong Kong’s.

The escalation in house prices is a pain that has altered Australian society; it has increased inequality and profoundly changed the relationship between generations – between those who have a house and those who don't. Things went seriously wrong at the start of the twenty-first century, when there was a huge and permanent rise in the price of housing. But what actually happened? And what to do now? As Alan Kohler explains, “the solutions are both complex and simple, difficult and easy: supply must be increased and superfluous demand reduced.”

In this crisp, clarifying and forward-looking essay, Alan Kohler tells the story of how we got into this mess – and how we might get out of it.

Alan Kohler is finance presenter on ABC News and a columnist for The New Daily. A former editor of The Age and The Australian Financial Review, he founded the Eureka Report and has written for The Australian, AFR, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. His books include It's Your Money.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Alan Kohler (P)2023 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

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Good job Alan

A solid review of how we go to where are in housing & a sensible path to the future.

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Educative and provocative.

Great to listen to such a comprehensive examination of a problem which ,I agree , has the potential for deep and destructive social impact.
There is an interesting statistic of the fall in numbers of persons per household in Australia. By my reckoning, the fall of the last 20 years would require around 1 million houses with any other increase in demand.
Couldn't we examine policies which increased the number of people per household. If it could include 3 generations , then there is clear social benefits in reducing dementia and antisocial behaviours , in addition to reducing housing demand.

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PDF in the DESKTOP version of audible

I couldn’t find the pdfs but you can view them when you load the episode in the desktop version. On mobile, load audible then choose show as desktop from the browser menu.

And thanks Kohler, cracking job mate. Anyone considering will find this enlightening stuff. I came to this after your chat with Raf on 774 the other day.

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Clear and concise

Excellent summary of the history to this problem.
Bold solutions seeking political heroes in our lifetime

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Listen Australia

A thoughtful, engaging and informative review which engages policy, economic, political and historical impacts … and delivers a rich understanding of how we find ourselves in the current housing and affordability debacle. Some great, albeit contentious, suggestions.., I hope our decision makers are listening and have the courage to act.

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Fantastic essay

Thought provoking lecture on our housing crisis, how we got here and suggestions to remediate.

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Well researched

In this quarterly essay, Alan Kohler does an excellent job of setting out the causes and potential solutions to Australia’s housing crisis. Clearly his intention is to convince readers that the problem is solvable. Unfortunately, his work has had the exact opposite effect: I’ve never been more convinced that fixing this problem is a hopeless cause.

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