Housing affordability’s hidden costs must be counted – Dr Adam Crowe

Curtin University and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute have published new research showing the true cost of housing goes far beyond weekly rent or mortgage repayments.

Study author and Curtin Research Fellow Dr Adam Crowe says the analysis revealed how lower-income households are particularly disadvantaged and it’s crucial to expand the definition of housing affordability to include factors such as location, energy efficiency and the ‘hidden costs’ associated with poor-quality housing.

Dr Crowe is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Curtin University and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Dr Crowe joins On The Record’s Atikah Hurley in the RTRFM studio to discuss this further.

“In Australia, housing affordability is measured in different ways. In mainstream media, it’s defined as spending less than 30% of household income on housing, that’s classed as being affordable. In the policy circles, there is a variation on that definition, because without having more nuance to that, you could be on an income of $200K-$300K a year and you’re paying more than 30% for housing. Is that really housing un-affordability? The research would say no, because you’re choosing to buy a 2.3 million dollar house. In the policy setting, its defined as the lowest 40% of income earners.”

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