Buying house or apartment or unit or townhouse in Australia Part 1

Different topic this week, one which I’ve wanted to write about in a long time. First of all I wanted to address the question we all ask ourselves: why buy a property to live in? After all the end result is our own demise and we can’t take any of it with us to the the next plane of existence or that dark place.

The reason is genetic, from the very beginning we are inherently coded to want place to settle down. I don’t think is conditioning or something that we learnt as we already have recorded society built for thousands of years on this basic principle. We like to ‘own things’ and a permanent place we can call our home. That of course has resulted to wars and territorial disputes but ultimately we are all here and benefit from having a place to call home and the results of that being modern society, other stuff to own and the internet.

A permanent place to live be it temporary is the cornerstone of how our society, politics or control and the current structure of the world’s economy works. Of course this is changing too and it’s not just a physical place but digital place. The philosophical analysis is broad and can wait for another post. Regardless all of us need place to live to survive and prosper in 2019. Maybe some post grad will read this and do a proper thesis or paper on it?

Buying a house usually needs to be a fixed address as any other type in our current state does not view a mobile home of any sort unworthy, even if your bank account indicates that you can buy multiple houses which is often the case these days. It’s more the accountants and financial analysts who need to define everything regardless of how ridiculously unreliable the resulting equation may be. They can’t predict the future from a spreadsheet. Industry reputation their are reward with meaningless accolades when they get one thing right – the new generation of used car salespeople.

So is buying a house, unit apartment or a place to live (in Australia) worth it in 2019? (Alternately is renting the better option or perhaps mobile home? – I’ll deal with this topic later.) Mentally it all depends on your state of mind the level of your education or experience. Buying a fixed place to live in a capitalist economy is all about things you can’t measure reliably so you focus on financial stability but it often gets lumped with social status, making money for retirement, nest egg etc… All true. Of course this level of Beta or stability is only part of the equation as you need the actual money or income to buy a place. Putting a value of buying and owing a house is more than just financial.

So the answer is yes, buying a place to live (in Australia) is a good idea if you don’t question the order on things! Yes but should you buy a house at this time?

Stay tuned for more housing analysis!

*This series of articles should not be treated as financial advice. They are observations and opinions.