We should all want to be YIMBYs. Shame the industry makes it so hard

September 1, 2026 — 5:04pm

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The good news is that property prices have fallen across all major Australian capital cities, providing sweet relief to young first home buyers clamouring for a lifetime of mortgage slavery.

The bad news is that property prices have fallen across all major Australian capital cities, bringing crippling anxiety to newer home owners facing negative equity risks and threatening to put a dampener on economic activity.

Such is the double bind Australia faces. Around 68 per cent of our net household wealth is held in real estate, a figure that dwarfs the numbers in comparable Anglosphere countries. The two-thirds of Australian households that own homes don’t mind too much if the value of what is usually their primary asset increases. And yet, house prices have risen an extraordinary 400 per cent since the turn of the millennium, leaving a generation feeling that the ladder is forever beyond reach.

The best way out of our double bind, however, is to increase supply, a key target of both state and federal governments. We should all want to be YIMBYs to aid that cause.

Unfortunately, the........

© The Sydney Morning Herald