Australian houses 'world's least affordable'

27/01/2010

Australia has the least affordable houses in the world, according to a ranking of international housing markets.
From a total of 23 Australian regions included in Demographia's Sixth International Housing Affordability Survey, 22 were labelled severely unaffordable and Australia scored the worst housing affordability rating in the world, followed by Canada.
Demographia calculated the ratings by diving median house prices by annual median household income and named Vancouver as the least affordable market in the world.
Sydney was ranked second, with the Sunshine Coast, Darwin and the Gold Coast rounding out the top five.
Melbourne and Wollongong also made the top ten, coming in at eigth and tenth respectively.
In Sydney, nearly 57 percent of the average income is needed to pay the mortgage on the average house, compared to just 13.4 percent in Dallas, Texas, one of the most affordable major city housing markets in the world.
The average dwelling price in Sydney rose 11.6 percent last year to $475,000, just above the national average of $439,000, according to RP Data.
Experts said housing affordability is being eroded by a lack of supply.
"Residential land release in Sydney has been reduced from an historic average of 10,000 lots per year to less than 2,000 in 2007," said Dr Tony Recsei in the preface to Demographia’s report.
"In the face of the scarcity resulting from such a miserly allotment it is unsurprising that the land component of the price of a dwelling has increased from 30 percent to 70 percent. The result has been a cost increase of some three times what it was a mere ten years ago."
Demograophia added that land release and planning issues are making the situation worse.
"In Australia, there is consensus in both the government and the private sector that there is a severe housing crisis, with rampant unaffordability and a housing shortage," the report said.
"It takes from 6.25 to 14.5 years to convert urban fringe land into new houses, which compares to less than 1.5 years before urban consolidation, and which remains the case in the 'demand-driven' (more responsive) markets in the United States."
Demographia urged governments to free up land use rules in order to ease affordability problems without causing a housing market crash.
"The restoration of near historic housing affordability in some markets provides an opportunity to repeal more prescriptive land regulation policies, which would not only minimise the potential for future busts, but would also ensure housing affordability for future generations," the report said.

bosses

2009 for me was a roller coaster ride. It is by far one of the most difficult years of my working life. It is the year of hard knocks for me, full of drama and brought out the worst in people, myself included. I asked God why he subjected me to such suffering and he replied that he wanted me to see people for what they truly are. He wanted me to see through their hearts and not take them as face value, to distinguish between those who can be real friends and those who cant. Also on the upside, I know myself better and I know what I do not want for my next job. It cannot get any worst than this job. I have been through the worst of the worst departments and the worst of worst bosses.

When it comes to bosses I remember them very clearly, both for the good and bad. So far I have been unfortunate (or fortunate?haha) to have gotten bosses who are poor leaders/managers, and I know that when I become a boss, I will never be like them.

You can judge for yourself from the real life examples below:

Boss in Job Number 2
-tells you to be more like this other named colleauge, compares you with this other named colleauge

Boss in Job Number 3
-when not satisfied with your performance, keeps it inside her and does not give you feedback, unitl she uses her accumulated unhappiness as a reason to judge my performance during appraisal time
-uses my colleauges as a reason to say that people are not happy with me. Up till today I still do not know the truth if she is lying or not. Her integrity is questionable

Boss in Job Number 4
-micro manages
-wants you to do whatever he says
-wants to do everything at the same time, cannot prioritise
-irresponsible in saying things, twists and turns and does not take ownership
-does not step up
-indecisive, changes his mind all the time
-one tracked mind

2nd boss in Job Number 4
-Jokingly ridicules you in front of external parties (9 Feb)
-Temperamental : mood changes split second

-Think he knows everything. thinks he is smart

-Obsessively concerned about thought processes
-But he is extremely good at identifying bottle necks

My pet peeves
-When a boss tells you to change your planned leave just because he wants you to be around.
-When a boss tells you to go into his room every time he wants to know some little thing.
-When a boss overlook something and he tells you that you its your job to remind him.