Topic and Angle
This news article is about the housing crisis in Australia and discusses how the Australian rental crisis is affecting young renters, especially students and early career workers just entering the workforce. With soaring house prices, more and more young Australians can’t afford to rent, and the instability and unsustainability of renting has become a common problem. According to Australian government statistics, residential house prices in Australia have risen by an average of 60 per cent over the past eight years. This feature story will focus on personal experiences and resource inequality, discussing How skyrocketing housing prices are squeezing younger generations out of safe and long-term housing options. Combining real-life experiences with policy and the market through real-life stories to analyse the deeper issues and causes of Australia’s rental housing crisis.
According to a report by ABC News, people earning six-figure incomes in the capital, Canberra, and many other areas have housing costs that account for 30% of their incomes, and an even larger share of up to 102% for people on low and middle incomes. Officials from the Australian Treasury have stated that the loans that potential homebuyers will have to repay after purchasing a home have jumped from 29% in 2020 to 46% in 2023 (Hutchens, 2024). For some job seekers, single parents, rents are now ‘severely unaffordable’, with some families spending 75 per cent or more of their income on rent (Witte & Ratnam, 2024).
Genre: Feature Article
This article will take the form of a feature story rather than a news commentary. On the subject of housing although there are also comments and opinions about individuals, this article will take a more in-depth narrative driven approach to expression. The news will include challenges for young tenants, from the perspective of personal stories, shown through interviews with young people renting in Sydney. The story combines data and real-life stories to engage readers from multiple perspectives, and then uses multimedia to give readers a more in-depth understanding of the message about Australia’s housing crisis.
Target Audience
The articles will be presented in The Guardian Australia, which unlike the neutral and non-ideological reporting of ABC News, is more free-commentary and is more suited to young and middle-aged readers with a sense of social concern.
Interactivity
As a feature story aimed at a younger demographic, the article will be presented with a combination of data visualisations and graphic material, and will also cite hyperlinks to authoritative sources and official reports. For interactivity, articles will include relevant tags inviting readers to share their stories in other social platforms‘ tags to deepen readers’s engagement.
Conclusion
This report analyzes the rental market in Australia, focusing on the challenges young people face, contextualizing the issue, and investigating the root causes of the housing crisis. Hopefully, it will provide a fresh perspective and analysis for readers who are facing or interested in the housing crisis.
Reference:
Hutchens, G. (2024). Australia’s Housing Crisis in 10 graphs, from the Federal Budget. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-15/federal-budget-housing-crisis-in-10-graphs/103847336
Witte, E., & Ratnam, K. (2024). SGS Economics & Planning. SGS Economics & Planning. https://sgsep.com.au/publications/insights/rental-affordability-index-2024
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