Will you be able to afford a house in 2020?

Has affordability gotten worse or has it always been difficult for young people to rent and to get a leg up on the housing ladder by purchasing their first home?

Where in Australia is the most affordable region in Australia and should you forget the big cities and move to the country?

This talk will discuss the current trends in housing affordability in Australia and the property purchasing prospects for young Australians. 

Ben is a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research and Methods. He has nearly 20 years of experience as an economic and social researcher in Australia. Prior to joining the ANU Ben was responsible for a range of modelling projects at NATSEM including the STINMOD microsimulation model of Australia’s tax and transfer system. Ben managed several key projects including the distributional analysis of the Federal Government’s 2014-15 and 2015-16 Budgets.

Prior to joining the ANU Ben twice worked at NATSEM and has also had roles at the ABS as a methodologist and economist, The Housing Industry Association as a senior economist and the Bureau of Tourism Research as an economic forecaster. Ben has a first class honours degree in economics and is undertaking a PhD through the Crawford School of Public Policy focusing on the tax and transfer system.