One of Anthony Albanese’s top ministers makes a stunning admission that will devastate younger votes – but make Baby Boomers VERY happy

Australia’s Housing Minister has said Anthony Albanese’s government does not want house prices to fall, despite being highly unaffordable for young people.

Clare O’Neil recently did this on Triple J’s youth-targeted Hack program when she was inundated with a barrage of questions about the housing market being ‘skewed towards young people’.

“We want to turn house price growth into something sustainable, so we’re not trying to drive house prices down,” Ms O’Neil said.

“But we don’t want to see some of the growth that we’ve seen in some parts of the country, where house prices are rising in double digits year after year.”

That prompted a surprised presenter David Marchese to ask: ‘Why don’t you want to see house prices fall?

“If you want to enter the market, if you’re a young person looking at what’s in front of you, then Certainly wants house prices to fall.’

O’Neil rejected the argument, saying the government was committed to building more homes and reducing rental vacancy rates.

“That may be the view of young people, but it is not the view of our government,” she said.

Such comments could alienate young voters – with Labor under intense pressure from the Greens, who are campaigning to scrap negative tax breaks for landlords.

Baby boomer owners would rejoice in an increase in home prices.

Labor lost the 2019 election after promising to scrap negative gearing for future purchases of existing investment properties and halve the capital gains tax credit to 25 percent.

Since then, it has focused on keeping middle-aged and older voters in marginal seats who own investment properties, but exposing them to the backlash from younger renters looking to enter the housing market.

Melbourne is the only major capital where house prices have fallen in the past year.

While its median house price of $923,422 is unaffordable for an average full-time worker on $100,000, it still has affordable waterfront suburbs like Frankston North, which is at the midpoint at $591,214.

That’s achievable for someone earning $91,000 – after a 2.3 per cent decline in Greater Melbourne in the year to November, when a state land tax turned off potential investors, CoreLogic data showed.

Even Brisbane is becoming increasingly unaffordable for young people, with the average house price rising 11 per cent over the year to $974,396.

Such comments could alienate young voters – with Labor under intense pressure from the Greens, who are campaigning to abolish negative tax breaks for landlords (pictured are swimmers at Sydney’s Bondi Beach)

Baby boomer homeowners said to rejoice in a rise in house prices (pictured are voters in Cronulla in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire)

Affordable satellite towns such as Ipswich, Logan and Caboolture are now falling out of reach for middle-income earners as house prices rise by double figures.

In more suburbs, the average price is above the $650,000 level that would be achievable for a middle-income borrower with a 20 percent down payment.

Perth’s average house price has risen by a whopping 20.7 per cent in the past year to $842,227, reducing the availability of affordable homes.

Sydney was already unaffordable with an average house price of almost $1.5 million – or 15 times an average full-time salary before even factoring in a 20 per cent deposit.

Even apartments are highly unaffordable at $865,422.

Homes in Sydney’s south-west suburbs typically cost $1 million, meaning single working couples can usually afford a home with a backyard.

Darwin is the only capital where middle-income earners can buy a home for themselves at the average price, with a median price of $580,091.