Friday
For at least thirty years, I have refused to buy newly-built houses because the quality of the construction and materials was so poor.
It transpires that the problem was far worse than I, or most others, realized. How bad?
Over one trillion Australian dollars’ worth of bad.
On top of the debt problem we are on the verge of discovering that most of the wealth that Australians have tied up in property is not composed of assets, they are liabilities. It is not even worth land value, because many existing properties, especially high-rise, even medium-rise, must be demolished and removed. Superannuation funds are tied up in this to a huge degree.
This alone is the ruin of Australia.
The problem began with regulation. Whenever power is concentrated then it corrupts. The power in building regulations and compliance has been huge; thus, so has the corruption.
Prior to the stringent regulations, there was the compliance enforced by reputation. A builder constructed sound buildings because – reputation. If a builder lost his reputation then it could not be recovered. The marketplace is unforgiving.
Now? ‘Built to government regulations mate’ has been the passport to shoddy, fourth-world constructions that are not worth the ground that some are sinking in to.
This is an economy-busting disaster.
The following is not exactly fast-paced, but it is well worth watching in its entirety.