Yep. Factor in that stamp duty + real estate fees can easily mean a $100k transaction cost - just to move to a house of equivalent value.
There is no stamp duty in NZ for example, and there is much more buying & selling as a result.
Those calculations are fine, but they assume that the renter will invest the money he saves wisely. Usually he doesnât.
The thing about borrowing money to buy a home is that paying the mortgage becomes the first priority. People will go without a lot of things in order to keep the mortgage up to date. And it does pay dividends, because after 25 years you do own the place outright. Then thereâs no more rent to pay, and you have an asset that is almost always worth a hell of a lot more than you paid for it.
And if you have to live out the last part of your life, post-work, on an income thatâs a lot less than youâve been used to, not having to pay rent is a huge benefit.
4 Likes
I think there are good and bad in both scenarios.
I have a bleak outlook on the future though. I can see 30 year olds now who have taken out 30 year mortgages, at really high amounts, with no capacity to put extra into their mortgage to pay it down sooner because current cost of living is ridiculous , losing their jobs at the age of 50, no longer being employable as the workforce gets younger and then defaulting and losing their homes.
Then you have the people who have had to buy really far out to be able to afford anything, how are they going to get around when theyâre older and immobile?
Iâm home at sick with the flu at the momentans EFC are having another dud year. Probably not the happiest person to speak to 
P.S he might not be a good saver, but she might be
1 Like
In both scenarios the winner is the one who plans properly and sticks to it.
Didnât you read the SBS article I gave you the link to ? It begins:
âRent money is dead moneyâ or so the saying goes. Itâs a popular myth perpetuated by plenty of people in the real estate industry. But when we did the sums, the reality was quite different.
You may agree with the old saying, but nowadays thereâs a growing number of people who donât, and who follow that âdifferent reality.â
1 Like
I think Iâm europe, or at least Switzerland, you get the long term rent and it doesnât go up, or doesnât go up by much. I think most of the property is owned from generations and doesnât change hands much.
But whatâs that weird thing they do when they move, I think they take the whole kitchen with them? Whatâs up with that?
â â â I completely missed it lol 
1 Like
Public servants should feel a little scared, Scomo has made himself the Minister for the PS and Greg Hunt is his deputy.
2 Likes
Scomo is a congestion buster, heâs going to bust congestion in the PS.
How about Scomo, you fund the PS adequately and stop privatisation by stealth.
3 Likes
1 Like
Vic budget to be handed down tomorrow
I think this will be nasty (all ready info getting out about shortfall in income from stamp duty)
Vic relies on 40% of revenue to come from stamp and land duties.
Andrews is happy to slug and talk down investors, when is he clipping the ticket in a hot market.
Will be interesting to hear his thoughts on a cooler market, spendy spendy Andrews.
1 Like
Itâs all very well for you to talk. Dan Andrews is looking after the poor bastards who are a lot worse off than you ever were and havenât got a nice bridge to live under, like you have.
2 Likes
A Albanese elected as leader of the ALP unopposed. Better late than never.
1 Like
With the size of the surplus and the cost of living⌠The Liberal Party and their supporters cannot and will not give a justification to why Murdoch and other multi-billions dollar corporations are getting these tax rebates.
It is filth, propagander and corruption. All too common with the LNP
2 Likes
Unfortunately the Aus electorate have rubber stamped this â â â â and even worse for the next 3-4 years.
1 Like
Thereâll be scandal after scandal until their majority is whittled down and we go to an early election. Where the general populace will forgive and vote them back in. Nothing surer
1 Like
Theyâre very good with money Iâve heard. They donât just give it all away on infrastructure, health, education, environment etc. because theyâre the adults.
Do you expect him to use his propaganda machine to win elections for the Tories for nothing?
1 Like
A little light reading from a left-wing rag (the AFR).
Clive Palmerâs tax bill. Itâs ugly
Neil Chenoweth Senior writer
May 27, 2019 â 11.55pm
Spare a thought for the bruised feelings of that tender reed Clive Palmer and the crushing disappointment he has had to bear, armed manfully only with a giant cheque book.
Some payouts have to hurt â no, not the $60 million he blew on the election. This is much more serious. Itâs the tax bill.
Itâs excruciating . . . Clive Palmer shares the ghastly news that he has had to pay $44 million tax. AAP
This is not a drill. Clive Palmer has just paid $44 million in tax. At least thatâs what he says on Twitter, so it must be true. One imagines the ATO is still peering at the cheque, perhaps biting it and trying to verify the signature.
It hurt so much he tweeted it in the third person.
Is the world going crazy? Itâs almost a tenet of faith, pulling up his Mineralogy accounts, when he gets around to filing them, to see tax payments in the cashflow statement each year sitting at zero.
He (or rather Mineralogy) did pay some tax, back in 2009, when he sent the ATO $1.37 million. But clearly he didnât like it, and didnât repeat the experiment. Maybe thatâs because he didnât actually make any money for a decade, as his royalties fight with CITIC played out in the WA courts.
His legal victory in November 2017 (upheld by the WA Court of Appeal just last week) saw Mineralogy receive $442 million of cash payments from CITIC in the year to last June. The company reported a $109 million tax bill, and even had a current tax provision of $77.5 million.
Paying $44 million tax is a little less than that â the rest of it must be held up in the mail. Every chance.
¡ May 21, 2019
âThe Chinese Communist Government state-owned company must follow the rule of Australian law in this country,ââ he said.
@CliveFPalmer
Mr Palmer said Mineralogy had paid $44 million in tax this year while CITIC Limited had taken more than $4 billion dollars in Australian ore and paid zero tax to the Australian tax office.
See Clive Palmerâs other Tweets
United Australia Partyâs showing in the election has to be a little disappointing â while he can say now that he never intended to win any seats, but rather was selflessly trying to boost the Coalition vote, the Queensland LNP seem to hate him and heâs never going to get any favours.
But that $60 million election spend isnât all loss. Letâs not forget the tax deductions he has generated.
There are some caps on personal donations, but Clive is entitled to $1500 in deductions for party donations and another $1500 for supporting candidates.
So, on his marginal tax rate, thatâs $1410 in tax refunds right there.
He is also due money from the Australian Electoral Commission. In the 2013 election is Palmer United Party won 5.49 per cent of the vote and received $2.8 million from the AEC.
This time the vote was 3.38 per cent, which suggests a payout around $1.8 million. The ATO also paid PUP $1 million in 2015, so maybe he worked on that tax deduction angle.
With the election out of the way Clive will be struggling to find things to keep himself occupied â thereâs the ongoing public brawl with WA Premier Mark McGowan, the zillion court cases he still has ongoing with CITIC, and then his anatomically implausible contortions fending off the attentions of the Queensland Nickel liquidator, who wants $500 million.
Thereâs also the criminal charges ASIC has brought against him, relating to a failed takeover bid of timeshare villas in 2012. The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and a fine of $11,000.
A conviction may mean nothing more than a fine. But the nature of the charge means if he is convicted, he would never be able to stand for federal Parliament again.
You can imagine it now. A nation grieves.
1 Like