Suprise suprise :

350,000 is about 10% of Melbournes population alone
No mention of the effect on the slowing property market

Housing dream fades at petrol pump

HIGH petrol prices are killing the dream of home ownership for thousands of people in Melbourne's outer suburbs....

..Home ownership is being pushed out of reach for those on the urban fringe hit by a triple whammy of long journeys to work, scarce public transport and dearer petrol...

...A study by Dr Jago Dodson and Dr Neil Snipe of Griffith University's Urban Research program, released this month, reveals petrol costs have pushed 350,000 Melburnians into financial stress.

The average cost of running a small car has risen to $147.54 a week -- almost $7700 a year.

And unlike Brisbane and Sydney, in Melbourne it is now more expensive to run a car than to maintain a house.

The research comes as the National Australia Bank predicts little new year's mercy, with petrol prices expected to average $1.25.7 a litre in 2006....

It's kinda sad.

Not unexpected, just sad. Those people didn't do anything wrong, they were told they were going to live the two-car dream, and within a few years it'll be clear that not everybody's going to be able to do that.

I can only hope that the "relocalization" brings a sense of community that is lacking in modern suburbs, otherwise my generation's future is looking pretty dim.

I disagree. In this new age you got to be an adult not a little child expecting that your goverment will take care of you.

Don't think it is so much belief in GOV looking after you as the belief that good times are to last forever.
Sooo many people I've spoken with here firmly believes that property prices never can go down (i.e. if they start going down you just don't sell) and if you want to make money on shares you buy blue chips and just wait for 10 years.

When I suggeted that higher interest rates could result in higher unemployment and difficulties in loan payments leading to a dump of properties, the general belief seems to be that if the market goes down 5-6% it is an excellent buying opportunity.
When I tell them about other places where properties dropped 25% or more, they just don't believe it can happen here.

Sgs-Cruz: what do you mean it's not their fault? Because they did not bother researching, instead they followed the sheep and did what everyone else was doing, which is madly buying property, any property infact. I think it serves these people right.

Dukat. I think you're way out of line.
Why do you think it serves people right that they loose their life savings and financial future?

Sure, people should take more interest in what they invest in but there is a plethoria of advice out there and it is very hard for most people to judge good advice from bad.

i.e. in Australia we don't hear much about US huge twin deficits and what impact that could have on global economy. Even less is said about PO.
So if the belief is that we may be heading into an inflationary period, that should generally be good for properties as the cost of building new goes up.

I don't judge people for taking advantage of what is happening but to wish bad things upon people, that belongs in the satanist forum.

How far out are these people commuting from? It costs me about $40.00 (CDN) a week (88.0 cents per litre) in a crappy Neon. I have to travel about 40km each way.

That $40CDN/week doesn't include maintenance, servicing, parts, taxes, insurance, and other crap, does it?

Whoa, let's turn something unrelated into an attack on socialism

This has nothing to do with the government taking care of you, this has to do with the availability of cheap energy to continue the suburban way of life. Nowhere did I say that the government should subsidize this particular method of living.

It was merely a comment that a lot of people are going to be hurt. These are not bad members of society, and it certainly does not 'serve them right' as another poster said.

Believe me, I'm firmly with you guys when it comes to the future of suburbia. I really think things are going to change (slower than a lot of others here think, but nevertheless, change) as energy prices inexorably rise. But just because the average citizen hasn't anticipated peak oil (espeically when every mainstream source is telling them there's nothing to worry about) doesn't mean they deserve it when their way of life is forever changed.

edit: Grammar fixes

But it was the government that created the sprawl and the government that created the housing bubble, so socialism is at the heart of the problem.

Your mistaking no forethought (and other complexities in the decision to create the suburban life) with socialism.

Aren't decisions made by the margin or whatever anyways? (as in, think about the now. If in the the next 60 years, oil is going to be cheap, why not create a living condition of comfort and profit from it...)

These decisions were made by politicians for the benefit of all society, and thus follow the definition of socialism.

In a free market for cities the goal is to get the maximum value for the land you convert. That means creating as much density as possible. This was the case before regulation became popular in the mid-20th century.

Ok Micki, I'll point out in regards from where I come from on this issue.

My parents live in sydney, two years ago they brought a house in queensland from a door to door salesman selling lots of land for housing about to be developed for $280k, they said sydney was too overheated and Queenland was the next boom (house was built very poorly and has massive drainage problems, parts of the house are constantly damp). They signed the contract within 1 hour and on the weekend the man came back with a bottle of champane, box of chocolates and roses to say how delighed he was about the sale. It was a week later I heard about this and I was furious, and I told them to back out and just count any losses. I showed them charts and also better investments which they could have gotten into instead of property (one was some major gold miners) but they didn't listen, claimed they have it negativly geared and property prices never go down. I explained the point that property prices do and most certainly can go down, but they shook their heads and said it won't happen. I mentioned interest rates, my father said if interest rates when up further, the government would be turfed out.

So after 2 years of telling my parents to sell out, they won't. I have also explained peakoil, but not much response.

If my parents get into finacial problems soon, I will not bail them out, they will just have to suffer. Seriously, I explained everything to them and if they don't want to listen then too bad, it's their fault not mine, I will not bail them out.....And that goes for anyone else who has invested so much of their future in property, I will have no pitty, they have all been warned by people like me and others, and even now in the newspapers some news stories are suggesting about the property market slowing down greatly after it has already fallen 10%, but they still do nothing.

Like the law, ignorance is no excuse. Fuck them. Yes they are my parents but should I help them out and then let them drag me down with them, better they fall down by themselves I think, when and if they get back up, I'll help them.

I would also like to mention, my parents only just finished paying off their house after 30 years, they had 20k in savings before the real estate weasel came knocking, offered credit cards and finacing as well.