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Ethnic persuasion, ethnic persuasion ethnic persuasion

Rita Panahi

by Rita Panahi

23 Oct 02:45pm

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Filed under: Ethnicity, Housing, Property, Real Estate, Wealth

80 comments

Darryl Kerrigan may have famously asked “what is it with wogs and cash?” He could’ve just as easily asked “what is it with wogs and property?”

Your background is more important to real estate success than the old adage about position

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria has completed research that proves what many ethnic types have known for years; that us wogs do better in the property game than your typical Aussie. If ‘The Castle’ was real and not just the greatest Australian film ever made, Farouk would by now own half the street and his kids would be well on their way to building their own property portfolios.

REIV analysis of Census data shows that many migrants to this country have better home ownership rates than those who were born and bred here. Indeed Australians don’t even break into the top 30 in home ownership rates in their own country!

It’s long been a topic of discussion amongst my Anglo & non-Anglo friends; why are the locals incapable of doing more with their money? Why the incessant whinging about property prices instead of celebrating each increase with ouzo & fried cheese? You take a wog and an Anglo earning identical salaries and the one with an ethnic background whether it be Italian, Greek, Persian, Albanian or Maltese will be more likely to invest in property & sooner than the fair haired locals.

So are those of us who fly here inherently better with money than those who grew here? Is there an environmental factor at play? Does the wog property phenomenon work with second & third generation Australians as well as it does with new arrivals? Whilst we let sociologists ponder the above and study the table below, let’s examine why us ethnics win the property game:

And you thought Slovenes were slovenly. Source: REIV

- Amongst wogs, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that renting is for suckers. It must be avoided at all costs. The shame of paying off someone else’s mortgage is not one a wog can easily endure.

- Family comes first. If your child can’t or won’t save a deposit then the family steps in and makes up the shortfall or offers their house as security. It also helps if you’re living at home till you purchase a property and of course you can rely on family to help you improve and maintain the property after purchase.

- Your wog child is not familiar with the concept of paying board. I’ve heard a very proper Greek mum say she’d rather hitch her skirt and walk the streets of St Kilda before she’d take a dollar from her professional children who lived at home until their early 30s when they moved into their own property… fully owned property that is. Hell, why extend yourself with a mortgage when you can live at home and have a tenant help pay off the house before moving in.

- Live by the philosophy that you bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell. None of this ‘your mortgage payments shouldn’t exceed 30 per cent of your net income’ nonsense.

- If renting is for suckers then so is gambling and many from the “old country” perceive the share market as nothing more than a giant casino too risky for their hard earned. Don’t try talking to them about diversifying their investments. Their idea of asset diversification is buying a unit in each child’s name.

- The desperation to enter the market sees your typical wog settle for the best they can afford, not waiting until they can buy the ideal house in their preferred suburb.

- One overriding factor contributing to healthy home ownership rates amongst ethnic groups is family involvement & the understanding that property is almost always synonymous with security and wealth. If there is no other way, brothers and sisters will pool resources and buy a property together. They’ll rent it out to help make the mortgage payments. After a few years they’ll sell at a handy profit enabling them to purchase property independently. My locally bred friends find such an arrangement fraught with danger but there’s a level of trust or perhaps a determination to get a foothold in their chosen country that sees ethnic families disregard the petty concerns of mixing family with business.

- It’s a testament to how good natured & inclusive Australians are that migrants’ home ownership rates are not a source of major angst. Instead of condemning our ways, Australians have now started mimicking the wog household model. Much has been written about this “new” trend of adult children staying in the family home well into their twenties. Something wogs have been doing for generations.

So Aussie baby boomers forget about spending your kids’ inheritance and do what any good wog parents would do; put down a fat deposit on a property for your entitled offspring. Make it close to your current home so you can spend your weekends painting, gardening and attending to whatever else needs doing. And don’t forget to bring around plenty of home cooked meals…your adult children can’t be expected to cook for themselves. Mazel tov!

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80 comments

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    • Tim says:

      01:51pm | 23/10/12

      This post is funny in that it assumes that owning property is necessarily a good thing or at least better than other forms of investment.

      A more interesting analysis would be total average wealth breakdown by nationality. Although we wouldn’t want to be racist.

      Reply

    • PJ says:

      03:40pm | 23/10/12

      This Article has racist undertones, suggesting one group is superior to another.

      “that us wogs do better in the property game than your typical Aussie”

      Rita is not to blame, this is what has been communicated to her about what is required.

      This article stands as an indictment to the Labor socialists, who dominate our media.

      The world over Labor Socialists operate by splitting people into groups and playing with the divisions they highlight, to win the game.

      Socialists recognise people by colour, ethnicity, disability, sexual persuasion and that old 19th century concept ‘class’.

      The human being and the individual never comes into it. Irrelevant.

      To verify these assertions, please recall Labors tactics to:
      - create a Class War to divide Australian families along income lines.
      - Julia Gillards war on Sexists, who all happen to be Liberal. Slippers immune don’t you know.
      - Linking Border control and Border Security to racist attitudes, so they are free from responsibility to solve the Illegal migration issue and able to continue Mass immigration regardless of Jobs, Housing, infrastructure, Health and Services constraints.

      Dividing up humans into Groups and using those groups as mere pawns to play ‘Cards’ is gross.

    • sunny says:

      04:07pm | 23/10/12

      Geez PJ calm down.

    • PJ says:

      04:18pm | 23/10/12

      you know I love you Sunny. It’s not personal.

      it’s just you’re party’s killing us

    • acotrel says:

      05:43pm | 23/10/12

      My ambition is to die with no assets, no money in the bank, no debts, and kids who are well educated and able to make their own way in the world, shafting none, and behaving ethically at all times. My wife inherits anything I still own.
      You can’t take it with you.  All you can do is try to make a difference and leave the world better than when you came in and started exploiting it.

    • acotrel says:

      05:46pm | 23/10/12

      @PJ
      Take a happy pill , and give one each to Tony and the rest of the crew !

    • elhombre of Dubai says:

      05:55pm | 23/10/12

      Jeez PJ, I think you’re reading a bit too much into it. It is, of course, our patriotic duty to work toards the complete destruction of the organised criminal organisation that is the ALP, but that has nothing to do with this enjoyable, light hearted and very pleasant article.

    • acotrel says:

      06:52pm | 23/10/12

      @Tim
      ‘A more interesting analysis would be total average wealth breakdown by nationality. Although we wouldn’t want to be racist. ‘

      Also by gender, but we wouldn’t want to be misogynist ?

    • YaThink says:

      03:52pm | 24/10/12

      Actually no PJ, it is not, it actually shows more what selfish baby-boomers are like as opposed to ethnics.  Both were young at the same time, but the wogs (and I grew up with them) appreciated the chances they had, the cheap interest rates, the ability to have a mortgage on ONE income, not two, the free university etc., and as they appreciate this, they want to pass it on to their kids and they help them with achieving what they have. 

      Unlike the Anglo Baby-Boomers who had all these benefits, forget that they got them, and just assume that as they worked hard, stuff the kids, they can do the same, totally forgetting that the kids don’t have the same benefits they did.  Many of my friends parents would be horrified if asked to babysit on the odd occasion, might interfere with the social life / holiday / relaxing etc., Worse, these babyboomers in a lot of cases actually got help from their parents when they had young kids, again, they forget this, instead pontificating about their super.

      A lot of older people might whinge about respect (for them of course) and the like now, but the wogs can teach us a hell of a lot about respect for your family and sharing, that is why they are doing better!

    • David V. says:

      02:02pm | 23/10/12

      Notice that those 10 are actually European nationalities. It says something for the very European civilisation the “progressives” want to dilute and destroy.

      Reply

    • Warren says:

      02:42pm | 23/10/12

      The same argument that people used thirty years ago when they complained of “wogs” from Greece or Italy destroying our “Anglo” culture. Were are a successful multicultural society. Get used to it.

    • andye says:

      03:20pm | 23/10/12

      @David V - What on Earth are you talking about? I thought Europe was a socialist failure the left wanted to emulate. Now we want to destroy it?

      Here, I googled some of your comments. It took me about 10 seconds to find these:

      “the Left has imposed itself in a more subtle way through PC thought control and attempts to stifle freedom of expression and diversiy of opinion.”

      “the Left for promoting permissiveness, Political Correctness, declining respect for parents, teachers, police and traditional values and authority, multiculturalism, moral relativism, etc.”

      “The Left wants to shut down free speech in this country”

      “The Left idealises indigenous cultures and demonises the West”

      “the Left are more subtle in the way they impose themselves. Using weasel words and calling names.”

      “the Left has far more to answer for, like defending evil Communism?”

      THE LEFT. THE LEFT. THE LEFT! Do you ever do anything apart from hate the left, and blame them for everything you possibly can? How can you base your entire worldview on hatred?

    • Levi says:

      03:29pm | 23/10/12

      Yep because kids holding signs in downtown Sydney calling for westerners to be beheaded is real successful multiculturalism.

    • scott says:

      03:30pm | 23/10/12

      “Were are a successful multicultural society. Get used to it.”

      Tell that to the poor student from India who is nursing a black eye because members of our “successful multicultural society” didn’t like the look of him.

    • PJ says:

      03:45pm | 23/10/12

      andye

      You’re American right?

      David V is probably from the UK and witnessed what a Labour left wing Government can do to a country with all it’s games.

      So he’s quite justified to feel anxiety and antagonism towards a 19th century political movement, that has turned the 4th greatest economy into a third world, crime ridden, racial and income divided hell hole.

      Wouldn’t you agree?

    • PJ says:

      03:48pm | 23/10/12

      Andye

      As for Europe, 27 States have installed conservative Governments to help rescue the economic situation there. Only 5 States remain Socialist.

      Did anyone google the European socialist conference? Some 1400 Left wingers all came together in europe to set the agenda for a World Government.  Google it now and see socialism in action.

    • David V. says:

      04:20pm | 23/10/12

      Well Europeans have suffered because of decades of socialism, multiculturalism, etc have hurt much of what is great about Europe. Eastern Europeans, if anything, are more alert to the dangers precisely because of their experience of Communist tyranny. Which is why Hungarians, Poles, Croats, etc are more right-wing and nationalistic. So yes, Eastern European migrants have had to flee to Australia and other nations after WWII because of the tyranny they faced at home.

      What we see now is that tyranny has much softer and subtler forms, in the use of weasel words, silencing dissent, etc. If we are unware of it, we cannot complain when our freedom is lost for good. And that is the real danger, not Islamic terrorism which it is enabling.

    • andye says:

      06:26pm | 23/10/12

      @PJ: “You’re American right?”

      No.

      @David V.: “What we see now is that tyranny has much softer and subtler forms, in the use of weasel words, silencing dissent, etc. If we are unware of it, we cannot complain when our freedom is lost for good. And that is the real danger, not Islamic terrorism which it is enabling.”

      Subtle tyranny. That’s a good one.

      Silencing dissent? How exactly are you being silenced? You appear to be anything but silent. In fact you appear to be free to exaggerate and rant away to your hearts content.

      You seem to like talking about Political Correctness. I think you will struggle to find anyone who isn’t some fringe idiot who actually supports such a ludicrous concept. PC is a tool used by a number of conservative commentators to lump all sorts of views together so they can be derided as prescribed shallow fashionable views.

      I personally feel strongly about gay rights, so that makes me PC and suddenly I am tarred with the same brush as some school principal somewhere who made a stupid decision that can be paraded as an example of PC Gone Mad.

      PJ thought I was american, and there is a whole industry of left hate there. Coulter, Savage. Google the titles of their books. It’s all about the left. The evil freedom hating left.

      This is about taking all your fellow countrymen who have a differing view and calling them traitors. This appears to be your argument too. It seems to be just too easy for you to conflate the Labor Party and actual cold war style Communism.

      I like that you mention the war on terror at the end. Conservative thought was great right up until the point they decided to invade Iraq. Conservatives have screwed up the war on terror that they had actually started correctly (Afghanistan) so its a bit rich to be saying the left is enabling. If you believe (as I do) that the goal of 9/11 was to provoke the US into invading Iraq, then the conservative approach has been the enabling one.

      We have a real enemy, and they are Muslim extremists who seek to spark a worldwide jihad. You spend your time arguing that a large part of your own countrymen are traitors because they are “left”. Perhaps, my dear David, your priorities are a little askew.

    • acotrel says:

      06:44pm | 23/10/12

      @PJ
      Roosevelt was responsible for the decline in the UK, nor socialism..  During WW2, he refused to allow New Deal money to be used to regenerate British industry for after the war, because of the limitations imposed by Congress, and he was intent on destroying the empire. Britain fought the war, the Yanks, Russians, Germans and Japanese came out on top because of the Marshall plans! The Britiish were behind the eight ball from 1945 onwards.

    • acotrel says:

      06:49pm | 23/10/12

      @David D
      ‘Well Europeans have suffered because of decades of socialism, multiculturalism, etc have hurt much of what is great about Europe. Eastern Europeans, if anything, are more alert to the dangers precisely because of their experience of Communist tyranny. Which is why Hungarians, Poles, Croats, etc are more right-wing and nationalistic.’


      The same people who helped the nazis herd their victims into trenches to be shot.

    • SM says:

      02:05pm | 23/10/12

      One of the bets pieces I’ve read on here.  And sadly I’m a renting sucker…

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      02:27pm | 23/10/12

      Me too. Mainly because my baby boomer parents are tight a$$es and won’t help us out because “they never got help from their parents” and the housing market is overpriced and out of reach.

    • SM says:

      03:21pm | 23/10/12

      Mine are to some extent too, but I’m slowly positioning myself for a cap in hand request in about 12 months time (when I can show I’ve made some effort myself…)

    • Tim the Toolman says:

      03:35pm | 23/10/12

      I’m just moving overseas where a house doesn’t require one to be miserable for the rest of your life.

    • Kika says:

      04:24pm | 23/10/12

      Good idea Tim. I am planning on that too.

    • acotrel says:

      06:03pm | 23/10/12

      @Tim
      How do you feel about Australian businesses moving offsahore ?  What you are suggesting is that you spend your life getting Australian wages and conditions then ripping off some poor sod who is used to working for a pittance, by buying his house for bugger-all. For you it would be a ll win-win ?

    • elhombre of Dubai says:

      06:06pm | 23/10/12

      Kika, The people that brought you into the world and raised you are tight a$$es because they won’t sacrifice their future financial well being to give poor little, parasitic you (who I assume is an adult by now) a handout.?? What sort of God awful mindset is that??

    • acotrel says:

      06:10pm | 23/10/12

      @KIka
      My heart bleeds for you.  Who educated you and provided a roof over your head and put up with your bullshit ?  What do you want - blood ? Do some work and apply yourself. Nobody ever got a free ride back then, it was just as difficult if you didn’t have rich parents. At least you have the option of taking out a loan with virtually no deposit, the rest is just hard work.

    • St. Michael says:

      02:05pm | 23/10/12

      “One overriding factor contributing to healthy home ownership rates amongst ethnic groups is family involvement & the understanding that property is almost always synonymous with security and wealth.”

      Two things:
      (1) Property by comparison with other forms of wealth in the ethnic groups’ places of origin is often better; but
      (2) Property is not always synonymous with wealth.

      First: many of the ethnic groups referred to in that list are from areas or nations where there historically has been brutal currency manipulation by their own governments—or just flat-out corrupt governments and banks.  Owning property is an almost instinctive defensive tactic as a result, because fiat money or other forms of wealth can be taken from you too easily.

      For example, I could completely understand an Austrian who would rather own a house than a government bond, mainly because as recently as 1923 people who owned bonds in Austria starved to death.  That sort of horror sticks with people.  It’s the main reason Germany’s central bank defaults against printing money whenever possible: they know all too well what happens when you don’t.

      Added to that, you’ll note that those nations still have very large rural subsistence populations—and there agricultural land *is* wealth because if you have a patch of land, you can always farm it.  If you can produce for yourself—have a well for water, trees for firewood, and areas to grow crops or keep livestock, and you stockpile what you otherwise need—then you can, not completely but to a large extent, get off the financial grid.  Crises in the currency, such as hyperinflation or indeed depression, are less able to hurt you because you don’t use that currency.  Indeed property itself is often used—in places like Mexico or Argentina which have frequent currency crises—as a sort of bank; when a family comes into some money, they tend to build another few courses of bricks onto the house, because that will likely hold its value better than the flim-flam currencies the government issues or uses.  It’s much easier to seize US dollars than it is a piece of land.

      However, this is not an argument that property is always wealth.  That’s the same old “property always goes up in value, and doubles every 7 years” argument, which is just speculation, and historically is not true; property prices got nuked by the Great Depression just as share prices did—and the property prices took a lot longer than share prices to recover.  Property at best is a long, long, long term hedge against inflation, and the problem with long term hedges is that in the long term we are all dead.  You have to be able to live long enough to see the return on your “investment”.  For rural types in fertile European soils, this is easier, because you can always subsist on your own land.  In the suburbs of Australia? Not so much.

      Reply

    • Farmville says:

      02:29pm | 23/10/12

      Spuds in the back garden won’t do it, but you can always hydro some weed in ya roofspace.

    • Your name:Allan says:

      02:43pm | 23/10/12

      If you own the roof over your head it opens up so many more options.
      Do I need to work two jobs? No!  Does falling sick fill you with dread of missing rent or mortgage? No! Is the boss a bum but you still need to suck up to them because of your financial situation? No!
      Some may consider it lazy money but having seen school mates hammered by the combination of high mortgages and falling property prices in the eighties, a situation that I am seeing repeating today. Not good seeing newly wed couples split because of the burden of debt.
      Living within your means is an old maxim but still a valid one.

    • St. Michael says:

      03:35pm | 23/10/12

      @ Allan: I don’t dispute that outright home ownership, or indeed mortgaged home ownership, has advantages.  I didn’t say the author was in error in saying home ownership is a sure path to security.

      If renting, the roof over your head remains there solely at the whim of the person whose name is on the title deed to the house.  People who say a mortgage means the bank owns your home—no.  The bank typically has a mortgage charged against your property which you must pay off before you can transfer the house anywhere else, but a bank cannot unilaterally call in the mortgage or sell the property out from under you without cause.

      By contrast, all it takes for a renter to be out of a home is for the old owner of the house to decide they don’t want the place anymore and the new owner to want the place for themselves.  And let’s remember that statistically only a small fraction of mortgages actually result in default.  The subprime crisis consumed at best 25% of mortgages in America.  That means 3 out of 4 houses did not default, and those houses which were already owned free and clear were largely unaffected.  The vast majority of homeowners occupy and enjoy their properties for the period they pay off the loan and beyond.

      All I am saying is that you should never, never take these advantages to home ownership as a promise that a home will always appreciate in value beyond inflation.  Historically, it doesn’t.  And absent irrational boom periods, it does not double in value every 7 years, despite what real estate agents would have you believe.

    • Tim the Toolman says:

      04:19pm | 23/10/12

      “If you own the roof over your head it opens up so many more options.”

      And hopefully you won’t be dead from the stress of paying for it before you own it.

    • acotrel says:

      06:16pm | 23/10/12

      Ain’t capitalism and the free market great ? You can actually make a life for yourself.  Whatr irritates me is the whinge.  Try living in Europe and buying a home and family. All you have to do in Australia is get off your bum and work ! Sometimes that involves a bit of imagination..
      TOO HARD, they all cry !

    • John says:

      02:08pm | 23/10/12

      “why us ethnics win the property game”

      If house prices crash like they have in many of the old countries, you will be losers, old school.

      Reply

    • Warren says:

      02:58pm | 23/10/12

      Not if the property is owned outright.

    • James says:

      03:41pm | 23/10/12

      Even if it is you will lose equity, most young people who have been suckered into the housing market do not own their house outright and may drag down mum and dad when it all goes pear shaped.

      Face it, inflating property values is a completely unproductive activity (at best) it is not an industry it is a casino based on the greater fool theory.  It has brought down Japan, US, Greece, Spain, Ireland etc. every society that indulges in the property fantasy ends up neck deep in the poo.

      Just ask a Greek (even a property owner) how it is working out for them.

    • Al says:

      04:10pm | 23/10/12

      Bring on the foreclosures, might actualy be able to get a property at a decent price then as the bank will auction it (usualy with a very low or no reserve) to try and recover some of the costs.

    • acotrel says:

      06:23pm | 23/10/12

      @Al
      You’re a happy little soul !  Is it OK to buy the proceeds of someone elses failure at rock bottom price ? Opportunistic to the last, you parasite ! I’ll bet you still scrounge part of your parents pension money ? Well, you must be entitled to that ?

    • Nikki says:

      02:08pm | 23/10/12

      I’m confused, are these results based on the individuals’ ethnic ancestry or where they were born? You mention migrants and also people who were “born and bred here”, but many people who are first and even second generation “born and bred here” identify with their ethnic origin first and Australian second. So where would you have them in your data? In their ethnic group or in Australian? I suspect the figure for ‘Australian’ would be much higher if these people were included.

      Reply

    • Punters Pal says:

      03:32pm | 23/10/12

      Yes, good question, Nikki. So, lets say, if the parents immigrate from England / Ireland in 1950s and children born here, they are presumably Australians. But if the parents immigrate from continental Europe in 1950s and kids are born here, are they not Australian, but Greeks or Latvians? I am finding to get my head around this logic.

    • scott says:

      02:09pm | 23/10/12

      And it’s this attitude of wogs living with mum and dad well into their 30’s that makes them undesirable in the the dating game.

      If I were to live my 20’s again, I’d still choose renting on my own where I had the freedom of taking home a different girl every Friday/Saturday night instead of living with my parents saving for a home.

      Sure, the chicks I rooted were absolute slappers but even they had enough self respect to not want to do the walk of shame in front of a stranger’s parents the next morning.

      Reply

    • jaz says:

      03:03pm | 23/10/12

      Classy

    • Jay2 says:

      04:03pm | 23/10/12

      Oh, you call your inflatables, ‘chicks’...noice!

    • Kate says:

      06:44pm | 23/10/12

      If you take out the bits about different girls, rooting and slappers I do agree with you. I’ve never dated a guy in his 20s who lived at home and I never would. I moved out at 17 too, so no hypocrisy here.

    • Jon says:

      02:16pm | 23/10/12

      Most of the groups the Author mentioned Italian, Greek, Persian, Albanian or Maltese have failed economies, poor governance, much lower GDP, much higher crime rates than Australia the list goes on. I mean Albania. Why would you buy property in Albania.
      It is not surprising these ethnic groups would put all their family savings into a house in Australia with its solid economy and good capital gains on property. The silly thing about this article is that it is having a go at the ordinary workers that have developed this place over time. Please have a look at your own backyard and then compare before writing a disrespectful artcile.

      Reply

    • jaz says:

      02:22pm | 23/10/12

      we are creating a society where a small class of wealthy landlords own all the property and a the majority will never own their own home. what a wonderful future for the country,

      Reply

    • Rowdy says:

      02:22pm | 23/10/12

      How about The Punch now run a counterpunch from, say,..........Ted Bullpitt?

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      04:44pm | 23/10/12

      Bring back the Kingswood.

    • LJ Dots says:

      05:25pm | 23/10/12

      A good idea Rowdy, but I’m not sure he has the time. Those mudflaps won’t shampoo themselves you know.

    • owl says:

      02:24pm | 23/10/12

      Extended family, mixing family with business, living at home until you are 30…
      A lot of Westernised families break out in a rash at the thought!
      We tend to be very self centred. Our kids get taught to look after number 1 and grow up with a sense of entitlement that sadly lacks substance. The financial responsibilty is cut at adulthood and in turn the parents are likewise not taken care of in old age by their adult children.
      Maybe the newer immigrants are more aware of the opportunities the lucky country has to offer whereas the locals take the easy life for granted.

      Reply

    • Michael says:

      04:27pm | 23/10/12

      A wise owl indeed.

    • Gordon says:

      02:25pm | 23/10/12

      I can vouch for the mediterranean approach to property, having seen the kids of the local fruit shop wind up owning one of BrisVegas’ biggest real estate outfits, and knowing that most of the groovy inner Melb terraces houses where I now live are owned by a handful of old Greek & Italian widows whose husbands would have paid 2,000 pounds for ‘em in the late 40s.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      02:25pm | 23/10/12

      That’s very true. My wog friends at school and uni never had to worry about cash. Their parents would pool their funds with their family to help them with property and uni fees. Apparently us Gen Y kids are a ‘burden’ to our spoilt Baby boomer parents - geez it would have been so easy back in the day homes were somewhat in line our yearly salaries and could be paid off in a lifetime.

      Reply

    • Giraffe says:

      03:50pm | 23/10/12

      That is one big chip you have on your shoulder Kika. Homes are able to be paid off in a lifetime. The brand new 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house you want like the rest of your muppet generation probably isnt at this stage, but you could quit whining and do something about it.

    • Kika says:

      04:29pm | 23/10/12

      Ah, no. Not in comparison to wages earned per year.
      But the question is - why would you WANT to put all your eggs in one basket? What happens if something happens to the basket? Or your eggs? You’ve got nothing else. I don’t want to be in that position. I invest in shares and have a nest egg bank account. I could buy a house. But I don’t live in a stable world. Jobs don’t last a lifetime. Houses are overpriced and I am not convinced in buying out in the sticks just to live the Australian dream. And no, my parents didn’t own a house until their late 40’s. Sorry, it’s not for me and with parents who refuse to help me out with cash because, and I quote “I never received anything from my Dad” I will never get a guarantee or help with a mortgage to get myself started. Thanks. No chip - just reality.

    • Sam Scout says:

      02:27pm | 23/10/12

      As someone who has worked in international tax for 20 years it is well known that migrants transfer their wealth to tax havens before moving to Australia.

      The money resides in a trust and the trustee is a non-resident - this way the ATO can’t tax the trustee if the funds aren’t distributed.

      The income from the trust isn’t taxed by the tax haven nor Australia - wealth is slowly accumulated and brought into the country by members of the trust either by cash withdrawals at an ATM or transfers under $10,000.

      This particular rort was highlighted by a question in an International Tax masters subject at a well know university.

      Further proof that native born australians are being ripped off by migrants who can use dual residency/prior residency to avoid their tax liabilities.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      02:36pm | 23/10/12

      “Don’t try talking to them about diversifying their investments.”

      They should, though, of course.

      This article rings true for me. It is not just wogs, though. Members of the Asian ethnic groups (like diaspora Chinese) are the same, but maybe they haven’t had as much time to amass their portfolios as those with European ancestry. As for the fact that there is little disquiet about higher levels of wog property-ownership, why should there be? It is just a matter of priorities and people making personal choices.

      Reply

    • FREEDOM IS NOT FREE says:

      02:37pm | 23/10/12

      Its my belef that “Australians” unlike others,really never found the need to have “ownership"its always been here for the want. And really,what does it matter you can’t take it with you! Everything comes to an end,so enjoy!!
      “GOD Bless Australia” Just love our layback life style smile

      Reply

    • sunny says:

      04:02pm | 23/10/12

      Haha good post. I remember being a lot less stressed when I was renting ..the only stress was that the landlord might sell the place.

    • James says:

      03:01pm | 23/10/12

      Let’s hope we don’t have a property crash and a worldwide recession, then all those who have paid a silly amount of money for a house will really be in deep sh*t.  Btw I wouldn’t mention “wogs and property” in Spain or Greece.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      03:15pm | 23/10/12

      I reckon you have nailed it Rita with
      ” - Family comes first. If your child can’t or won’t save a deposit then the family steps in and makes up the shortfall or offers their house as security. It also helps if you’re living at home till you purchase a property and of course you can rely on family to help you improve and maintain the property after purchase.

      - Your wog child is not familiar with the concept of paying board. I’ve heard a very proper Greek mum say she’d rather hitch her skirt and walk the streets of St Kilda before she’d take a dollar from her professional children who lived at home until their early 30s when they moved into their own property… fully owned property that is. Hell, why extend yourself with a mortgage when you can live at home and have a tenant help pay off the house before moving in. “

      My own experience of families from many European countries is that compared to those of many generations in Australia and no real European connection, families from Europe more recently do stick together much more rather than fly the coop as soon as possible.

      Any recent trend of increased stay at home adult kids is likely as you say, recent and possibly not all that great.
      Kids having flown the coop are more into a hedonistic lifestyle and not too keen on thinking about settling down and the last thing they’ll want to have is a mortgage.

      Reply

    • TRBNGR says:

      03:30pm | 23/10/12

      I couldn’t help notice Rita didn’t so much as even allude to her own status as a owner or renter. Clearly she is renting and not wanting to admit it, cause if she DID own, you’d would have just read about it.

      If you’re going to attempt talking down to people about a subject and NOT give your status, but still smugly refer to a group you identify with as superior is the height of condescension.

      Reply

    • scott says:

      04:23pm | 23/10/12

      She still lives with her parents, and is trying to convince the world that it is a smart investment strategy.

      Judging by her appearance in her photo, she look about 40.  Truly a loser in every sense of the word.

    • Anjuli says:

      03:30pm | 23/10/12

      I asked this question when visiting Malaysia many years ago to a Chinese guide “Why was it the Chinese were the major property holders ” his answer was “Different thinking” How things have changed in that country.
      Is it some Australians don’t want the burden of owning property, I know if my husband and I did not own our very modest house long before we were retired, we would be up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      04:43pm | 23/10/12

      Not necessarily true. If you still save and invest your cash carefully as you would pay off ANY loan you can buy a house outright well before you need to retire and you never have to have owe a bank anything.

    • SAm says:

      06:18pm | 23/10/12

      Agree with Kika there.
      Just wish landlords didnt keeping getting a whiff of people saving money and simply hiking their rediculous rents to grab an even larger slice of pie

      Reply

    • Kate says:

      06:21pm | 23/10/12

      I’m renting because I would rather stick my hand in a blender than live with my parents well into my 20s and 30s, and I’d never want to be in a relationship with someone my age who was still at home. My parents also don’t have money to fund a home deposit - they’re still paying off their own mortgage.
      I don’t consider myself and my fiance ‘suckers’ for renting, I think we’ve actually done pretty damn well for ourselves considering what life has thrown at us. The perception that renters are somehow too dumb or poor to do the ‘proper’ thing of buying property really irritates me.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      06:33pm | 23/10/12

      The wogs are only successful because they run their family relationships as dictatorships.  The men control the finances and make most of the decisions, and they enforce support from the rest of the hangers-on. If Australians were not so democratic, they’d have more material wealth, It is a matter of what is important to yourself - what d o you value ?

      Reply

    • pete says:

      06:58pm | 23/10/12

      But do they have any liquid assets outside the family home?

      Heard a few stories of old ethnics living in million dollar houses but struggling to find the money to pay the rates.

      Reply

    • Richard de la Haye says:

      08:27am | 24/10/12

      Well Pete, it’s the entitlement thing. They want to get the pension. The kids should pay the rates. Ethnics particularly from Asia minor , India and the Orient tend to own their kids for the rest of their life. eg. arranged marriages, living at home, no rent, no sport just study, high marks etc.. Australia from day one always attracted the ‘peasant’ no asset class of migrant. This was a land of opportunity. Home ownership was their only dream. Not for them the other benefits of western society such as the arts; opera, musicals, concerts, ballet, travel apart from the home country etc. No broadening of horizons until third or fourth generation. Strangely enough they also make the worst penny pinching landlords

    • Chopper knows says:

      10:48am | 24/10/12

      @ Richard, ” Not for them the other benefits of western society such as the arts; opera, musicals, concerts, ballet, travel apart from the home country etc. No broadening of horizons until third or fourth generation. Strangely enough they also make the worst penny pinching landlords”
      Not true at all but a very racist outlook, when you mean asia minor, you probably include South Korean in that as well. Most of the stellar musical students in high schools and Universities in Melbourne and Sydney today are Korean students, They are now playing in national orchestra’s and exceptional in Piano, Cello, Violin and Trombone. All classical style instruments. Many of the top ballet dancers in the AUstralian ballet companies are of asian (chinese) backgrounds as well. When did you decide to come up with this racist rant?

    • Peter Thornton says:

      07:57am | 24/10/12

      Living at home up until and often beyond age 30? Very questionable indeed. Morphing peasant values into values of perceived privilege? Well, I’m white, born in a predominately white society with all the inherent freedom of my tribe; for me, it’s practically naturally occurring to rebel against such shite. Or at least regularly point it out rather than contribute benevolent participation as if it were something to aspire to. But hey, that’s me. Calling out privilege isn’t a threat, toots. There is a huge difference between criticism and personal attacks. Criticism, if we learn to embrace it, makes us stronger. It is not the job of others to check our privilege for us, but it’s our own, so it’s, frankly, a favour when people call us out on it. And if we listen and engage, it will make us all the better. It’s not hard.

      Reply

    • fml says:

      07:58am | 24/10/12

      I don’t see why it is not possible to move out and own a home. You don’t have to have a massive mansion when you first move out, small steps. Buy a one bedroom apartment you can afford the repayments for, rent it out and then move out into a share house. That way you get the best of both worlds.

      If it is your decision to not stay at home even just for a few years so you can save a deposit, then it’s not exactly kosher to complain about the price of housing.  It’s all possible but you just need to take small steps. Oh, and start as early as you can. I didn’t start till my late 20’s had I started earlier I would be alot better off and so would my liver.

      Reply

    • Duncan says:

      08:09am | 24/10/12

      The percentage rates at the bottom don’t accurately reflect that there are a whole lot more of people with no nationality other than Australian is Australia than anything else. 36% is a dwarfing number over the other groups. 50% of one group is really a small number compared to the 36%.
      Also it shows the good faith that most immigrants have when they come here. They want ta better life, come to Australia and have a crack!

      Reply

    • Princess Peach says:

      08:18am | 24/10/12

      They say that ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’... with family money, you give over independence and power to your parents and extended families.  I guess for some people, having mum and dad in your backyard doing your gardening is a beautiful thing, but I think a lot of Aussies, like me, feel that life is about forging your own life, and creating a new family, and having more autonomy.

      My husband’s family are European ... some of his siblings have depended on the family for financial ‘favours’ and now have no leg to stand on, when mamma and pappa nag and complain about how they are living their life; how they spend their money etc. etc.

      Sure it sounds nice to have a house all but given to you, but if you read a few good biographies of people who have conquered the world in some sphere, they are people who have not had it all handed to them.  I guess it depends on what you think life is all about.

      Reply

    • Kersten says:

      09:36am | 24/10/12

      So….how’s the Greek economy going?

      Reply

    • Leigh says:

      10:13am | 24/10/12

      “Amongst wogs, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that renting is for suckers. It must be avoided at all costs.”

      Right. And who are the majority landlords making money out of the suckers? The wogs.

      Reply

    • Peter Thornton says:

      12:52pm | 24/10/12

      And non-wogs don’t always base their personal value, their self-image, their overall worth or, simply, their right to suck in polluted air or allow the sun we’re all under to burn holes in their skin on whether or not they pay rent, drive a posh motor, wear garishly corporatised designer labels or eat got-up, stale food . The author of this article and her demographic citations may own some property, but if her and/or her fellows have a desperate need to prove something then who owns who?

 
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