Politicians should never lecture on housing affordability
The following video, which is making the rounds on Twitter (X), features opposition leader Peter Dutton explaining how he “saved diligently” to buy his first house in Brisbane at the age of 19.
“I have saved diligently over those years and it allowed me to put together a deposit for a house. And I bought my first house at age 19.”
– Peter Dutton
Source: Reddit https://t.co/yu7XWBwYn8 pic.twitter.com/rPwwype8Xj
— Tarric Brooker aka Avid Commentator 🇦🇺 (@AvidCommentator) January 31, 2025
Peter Dutton was born on 18 November 1970. This means that he likely purchased his first house in Brisbane in 1990.
Brisbane’s median house price was $113,000 in 1990, according to Abelson & Chung (2004), versus $1,016,000 as of 31 December 2024, according to Domain.
Therefore, the median house price in Brisbane rose by around 800% between 1990 and 2024.
Home buyers today face far worse affordability challenges than Peter Dutton faced in 1990, making his comments rather hollow.
At the national level, home values are tracking at a record share of incomes.
The share of median income required to service a mortgage on a median-priced home is also the highest on record.
The time taken to save a deposit on the median-priced home is also near record levels.
Finally, saving a deposit has become harder thanks to the record share of income required to service rents, which has drained disposable incomes.
Like many of his parliamentary colleagues, Peter Dutton has profited greatly from Australia’s soaring property values over the past three decades.
Until a few years ago, the family’s property portfolio reportedly included:
- A luxury beachfront home on millionaire’s row on the Gold Coast.
- A Townsville shopping centre.
- A resort home on Moreton Island.
- A sprawling two-hectare family home on Brisbane’s outskirts.
- An apartment in Canberra.
- And an upmarket investment property in Brisbane’s CBD.
Dutton sold off some of his portfolio recently, with his parliamentary register of interests currently showing that he and his spouse own three residential properties.
Peter Dutton’s current residential property portfolio
Regardless, it is always a bit rich when politicians like Peter Dutton, who purchased property when it was cheap and have profited from soaring values, wax lyrical about the virtues of saving for a home.
