Catholic Diocese of Broome

Editorial: The price of calling Australia home

A young couple with three children want to make a home for themselves in Broome.. The husband was born in Broome and his wife has been here for some years. They are a two-income family and yet they cannot afford to build in Broome. Indeed, in the present over-inflated market place they cannot afford even a small block of land. They are typical of the new group in today’s Kimberley society being marginalized by the effects of a booming economy and cashed-up competition from hungry speculators. Broome has become a new capital for the rich while the poor, and even those not deemed to be poor but rather comfortable, are pushed to one side.

Signs of a property boom are appearing also in Derby, once considered a place where young couples might get a head start in pursuit of the Australian dream – a grassed block, a three bedroom home and enough room to stoke the barbecue on weekends. In Kununurra land values and house values have soared to unprecedented proportions as the expanding mining and tourism industries source homes for their new found employees. In Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing townsite land is quite simply in short supply and that state of affairs shows little sign of abating.

Strangely enough, one major player in the Kimberley-wide boom, the tourist industry, continues to be supported by growth-gurus even though quite clearly it is time to cool the economic frenzy and bring the market place off the boil. Infrastructure in Broome struggles to cope with the demands created by visitors. One month alone this year 40,000 people were airlifted into the pearling town - many of them on package deals staying at a variety of resorts each of which provide employment thus further increasing the demand for land and homes. To put it simply – the town is at bursting point and something drastic needs to happen. In Broome the average price for a house is said to be $450,000 but this figure is misleading. The inclusion of one bedroom flats and small (split dwellings) in the equation brings the average price down considerably. In fact, families in need of three and four bedroom homes can expect to pay upwards of $650,000 if they can find anything available and the prospects of reasonable rents have long gone by the economic wayside.

There needs now to be a particular and appropriate management policy on housing and land development that takes into account the needs of first-home buyers and those needs of the people who will always be customers of public housing. The Government is a key stake-holder in the quest for affordable housing and must address itself to issues such as the exorbitant cost of real estate development and the burden of stamp duty. Bringing the price of land down must be seen to be benefiting those in need and not those pursuing greed. The percentage of blocks in any new development set aside for the poor and ‘the comfortable’ has to be radically increased. Land is an asset of the community that cannot afford to be left solely in the hands of common unscrupulous capitalists. The alternative is the status quo and there-in compounded misery for young couples seeking to strike out on their own.

Just to add injury to injury, the Broome Shire Council has announced a 7.7% increase in rates – that totals a 21% increase in three years. As if struggling young home owners haven’t enough to bear with rising interest rates they now have to contend with extra costs in realizing their dream of somewhere they can call home. ^ top