I was referring to the relatively newer situation where house prices have outrun wages, which is more of a 21st century phenomenon in Australia. The capital gains tax discount introduced in the early 2000s largely contributed to this, and housing became a government supported avenue for lazy and secure investment. It has resulted in a wealth transfer from the young to the old, or to the offspring of investment property owning families. When you couple that with the worst renter protection laws in the western world, and very high rent growth, it has become a destroyer of social mobility that once existed in this country.
