I Dream of My Apartment in the Sky

Home ownership dreams in Australia used to be about the 3 bedroom cottage on a quarter acre block in the suburbs.

But everything’s changed now …

The problems of home affordability in Australia means that whilst Australians still cling to the dream of home ownership as one of life's material achievements they are willing to scale down their aspirations and settle for flats and townhouses according to the Being Australian study by the Ipsos Mackay.

The study is based on in-depth interviews with more than 100 participants in 15 focus groups in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle and Ballarat and found people are ''redefining the dream to overcome the housing affordability issue''.  One respondent said: ''The white picket fence thing, I don't think that's really important any more. Like, a home in the suburbs with your three kids and a dog.'

This also fits with an analysis by the Bureau of Statistics last year that forecasts single-person households will increase to 3.1 million, or 30 per cent, of all households by 2026 which ''represents the fastest projected increase of all household types over the period 2001 to 2026”.

The study affirms another report called The Housing We'd Choose published by the Grattan Institute in Melbourne, which found people were willing to tailor their housing aspirations to their budget.

It’s interesting to see this shift in real estate ownership trends and re-inforces the importance of high density real estate to our futures.

Francesco …