stockland ceo blasts extravagant homes, page-4

I think there is a problem generally, not that Australia has a housing shortage, or that too many people want the big home. I think the problem is in Australia you have a lack of cities, ie. work centres. And an incredible lack of debate or vision.

In most other countries, they have heaps more cities, and each city has it's fair share of work roles, from CEOs, to accountants, to IT consultants, to utility companies, to retail headquarters etc....and a person can choose a city that they can afford to live in for the income they will receive, that suits their lifestyle aspirations.
Australia has a paucity of choice. This leads to an incredible pressure on house prices radiating from the city outwards.

I very rarely hear the debate to regionalise Australia, to produce new work centres (even UK did this with Milton Keynes, and it has been extremely successful; London salaries, without London house prices).

Not one government has had the vision to create high speed rail links between centres, or to commutable towns, or to create tax incentives to create business in regional centres. Well, perhaps they have but I have not heard about it, and it would seem that it has not been successful.

I think the debate needs to broaden.