The Sydney Morning Herald › Forget blue or white collar. Society is now about the mortgage Shane Wright September 13, 2019 Forget blue or white collar workers - our society is now broken down by the size of our investment housing portfolio. New research by academics at the University of Sydney suggests the office room debate about property prices and Australians' intimate understanding of negative gearing points to how we have become an "asset society". Jobs and income no longer define our society, a new study shows. They have been replaced by our ownership of property. Focusing on Sydney, the nation's most expensive capital city, the research found long-time societal delineations based upon what we did for a job have now given way to whether we own property, have a mortgage or will forever be priced out of the housing market. Two of the co-authors of the research, Lisa Adkins and Martijn Konings, said there had been a breakdown in the traditional way people measure their own worth and place in society as wages stagnated and house prices soared. Professor Adkins said while most people were seeing their wages barely grow, those who sank money into property usually benefited from much higher gains in house values. Getting into property, aided by a tax system that rewarded people the more houses and units they owned, was now the defining characteristic of society. The days of people being identified by their job or wage were effectively over. "In Sydney, it's a middle class concern. People are very aware about buying property, the value of property. It's something you do if you want to stay middle class or better." "We're living in an asset society." According to professors Adkins and Konings and fellow researcher Melinda Cooper, the developed world now has a five-tier asset-based class system which is topped by an "investor" group. This included people who don't have an ordinary wage but live off the income garnered from their property investments. They are followed by people who own their home outright, then by those who hold a mortgage. A separate group called "churners" with no housing assets are underneath the mortgage holders, split into renters and the homeless at the bottom rung of society. According to the research, a "structural reconfiguration" has taken place that means the life chances of most people is now determined by property ownership rather than their job and weekly wage. Professor Konings said Sydney and Australia's other major capitals were good examples of the way society was now focused around asset prices rather than wages and employment. He said so pervasive was property in the thinking of many Australians, they could explain in detail a tax arrangement like negative gearing. "Everyone seems to understand negative gearing and how it works for property investment. People know its importance to housing prices and its clear policy focus," he said. The professors found that as wages had stagnated and house prices climbed, people wanting to get into property were increasingly reliant on assistance from their parents. University students, apprentices or those taking unpaid work internships were now relying on in-kind rental assistance, usually from their parents, another sign of the way society was based on property assets. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...s-now-about-the-mortgage-20190912-p52qn9.html
"In Sydney, it's a middle class concern. People are very aware about buying property, the value of property. It's something you do if you want to stay middle class or better." ... .. ... .. .... .. .? (wind in the background) ,,Oh yeah, can't wait to get my hands on some... 30 years mortgage, to become something better than middle class. I believe, now it's the right time. We made it in 2008 , we shall prevail once more''
re: property in China In Main Land China, there is a shortage of women because of Mao's one child policy. As a result, women have long used ownership of property as a major criteria in judging a man's suitability as a marriage partner.
I don't see this is very radical. Historically, those on least money rented because they either couldn't afford a mortgage or couldn't afford the deposit or didn't have a secure enough income. Beyond that, employment has changed from manufacturing and male-dominated to services. The Marxist approach to class definition is obviously now very outdated but it wasn't even adequate in his own time.
Security of income is becoming more difficult each year of late. Renting allows one to up stakes and move where the work is located, there's a bit more flexibility in that regard.
"Owning" is different than being a debtor-in-possession. Seems the two are always one & the same in common discussions.
Indeed, buying property is a good thing. Maybe, it would be more beneficial to invest in some European real estate but not Australian one. Greece can be cheaper than others and Greece's GDP and tourism destinations had been growing rapidly for the last years. So this property in Greece can be affordable to buy.