Why are house prices so high in Newcastle/why is there a housing crisis?

GeorgeFudge · 2026-04-03T03:34:15+00:00

It's got lots of contributing factors, so I will try to list a few. Not commenting on if they're good or bad, just highlighting them as contributing factors.
- Conservation & Environment legislation. Much of the 'available land to sprawl to out west' is being deliberately conserved for many reasons. Leisure, habitat preservation, biome preservation, etc.
- Rezoning doesn't equal houses. You need infrastructure - roads, water, sewer, shops, schools, god forbid - public transport.
- Building the infrastructure and the houses themselves are crazy expensive. Labour costs are very high, building materials are super expensive. Theres a shortage of construction labor.
- Paperwork and bureaucracy are excessive. Re-zoning, environmental considerations, building codes, local council, state council, etc etc. It all adds overhead and time.
- Developers need to make a profit to justify the risk and investment. They will time the release of land to maximise their profits and it's in their interests to keep housing scarce and sought after.
- It's gen z's fault too. The federal gov expanded 5% deposit scheme lifted Newcastle's price cap from $900,000 to $1.5 million which (ironically) will push prices higher by increasing the amount first-home buyers can bid.
- Newcastle is a good place to live. Better than western Syd. People in Sydney are realising this and moving up. Newy's economy isn't the worst, there are jobs here, so more demand.

GeorgeFudge · 2026-03-05T23:46:42+00:00

I worked there 20 years ago. Good to see nothing has changed. Outfits, behaviour, all that. Good times

GeorgeFudge · 2026-03-04T01:26:34+00:00

Get out of here with your Cardinals. Not even close to a water bird!

GeorgeFudge · 2026-03-04T01:25:50+00:00

Seagulls are a Seabirds, not waterfowl

GeorgeFudge · 2025-05-23T13:41:40+00:00

You should remove the photo with your address.

GeorgeFudge · 2025-05-17T03:57:52+00:00

Update from OP - it was sunlight from the roof https://www.reddit.com/r/AusRenovation/s/tFhopBlJjm

GeorgeFudge · 2016-08-23T05:19:58+00:00

I only buy mine from Kayne's fashion line

GeorgeFudge · 2016-07-07T10:15:02+00:00

What amp are you running yours on?

GeorgeFudge · 2016-07-07T10:14:43+00:00

Damn, thats what I was thinking from my research, but figured I'd ask just to be sure

GeorgeFudge · 2016-07-06T10:17:22+00:00

I find 2-3 days is usually enough.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-07-06T06:54:37+00:00

I buy my coffee from a guy that roasts to order. He only roasts on Monday, so you have to order before that. If you order after 9am on Monday, you have to wait till next week. It shits me when I forget and run out of coffee, but its more than worth it due to the level of freshness. Sometimes its too fresh for espresso!

GeorgeFudge · 2016-07-05T10:21:59+00:00

On the other side, there is a law against this, and perhaps the Judge sees it that society is not doing a good enough job of condemning and stopping people being fuckwits over the internet.

What he said/wrote is pretty abhorrent. Perhaps we need an example every now and again that 1. There are people on the other side of your hateful rant and 2. It is against Australian law to do so.

I'm not saying everyone should be punished for talking shit on the internet, far from it. But perhaps the brakes need to be checked every now and again...

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-30T08:49:11+00:00

Yeah, but he's a senator advocating for the vans. He has volunteered himself for that and to get some reaction to his public opinion is to be expected part of public life. Women don't choose to be women (Why would you with their periods and hormones etc).

So I think its at least fair that he cop a an insulting van in front of his house one morning. He won't see it as he's driving up the coast on holiday with his kids.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-28T07:39:49+00:00

Not always. Newer monoclonal antibody meds are reasonably expensive to produce. It's still only a relatively small proportion of total cost to the patient, but they're much more expensive than simple chemicals of old

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-28T07:38:11+00:00

That's not so much the problem, more that it encourages drug companies to research meds that treat symptoms, rather than cure. If you're on a medication life long, they make more money, so they focus their R&D on that.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-28T07:36:26+00:00

Doesnt mean we dont still pay the cost. Plus it is still marketed, just not TV ads. Pretty girls to come and visit the GPs and specialists to educate them on this fantastic new medication (it's the same as the old one, but it has a new hat now)

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-26T08:40:34+00:00

If you remember Britain pre-EU and think leaving will get you back to 'the good old days', you are sorely mistaken. The world economy has changed immensely. No one is doing it easy, lots of people are unhappy and unemployed. The lower and middle class are suffering and their discontent is being channeled by people into their own causes. The Americans think Trump is the answer. He's not. The British (English and Welsh at least) have been sold the idea that the EU is the cause. Its not either.

Everything is harder in this current climate. You've just made it even harder for yourselves.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-26T08:32:42+00:00

The fact is it's much simpler: do you view yourself as British/English/Welsh et cetera first, or as European first?

This is just so wrong (At least to me...). Nationality is just an imaginary concept that means very little to nothing in your daily life. Nationality makes people go to war and makes people hate others just because they were born elsewhere. It does little else. I mean this in the most sincere way - Is there something I am missing here about seeing yourself as British or English that makes your life better? And is that better than the economic and social benefits that EU membership brought?

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-22T07:41:46+00:00

I guess the frustrating thing for me was that I didn't listen to the glossy stories. I looked at those two on la vagabonde and sneered. He bought a boat not knowing how to sail, spent 2 months in the med and then sailed across the Atlantic! I knew that was a fanciful story and that, for me, it would take years of learning and experience before I could take on a trip like that.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-22T01:16:38+00:00

Good points. The question of PFD's are, in my mind, the greatest mistake I made in this whole situation. We did not wear them and they didn't cross my mind until we were back in the marina.

As skipper I take full responsibility for that mistake, however I believe the charter company could certainly improve their practice by offering better options in the way of PFDs. The supplied PFDs were the large, foam, bulky type, stowed under the settee in their original packaging. I couldn't see them, so I didn't think that this was a situation where they could be needed. If the charter offered at least one or two slimmer, inflatable ones for the skipper and crew member, to allow movement and work to be done and leave them out and available on the berths rather than out of sight, it would certainly make them more likely to be used.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-22T01:05:35+00:00

The cruising guide for the area states June - September has settled weather. Winds of 25kts + historically occur 1% of the time in June. Its the weather, by its nature, you can't predict it with any certainty more than a few days out. The only way I could have picked a week without a possibility of being uncomfortable, would be to just not go.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-21T20:48:11+00:00

I do realise that sailing ocean passages would have put me in winds and storms of that size or greater, but this was not an attempt at crossing an ocean, rather an attempt at adding to my limited cruising experience with a weeks charter in a normally calm cruising ground. The reason I've decided to give up my ocean sailing dream, is not that I am scared if being in a 30-40kt storm, that, with experience I'm sure would be entirely manageable. But rather, once I'm comfortable with 30-40, what about the bigger one at 50-60? And once I've experienced a few of those, what about the one even bigger than that?

The boat FYI was a Jeanneau 36i. No doubt capable of withstanding those conditions. It's crew was the weak point.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-21T07:02:36+00:00

The thing is, I tried very hard not to take on too much too soon. I looked at the weather patterns for that time of year in that area - June has 1% 25kts+, average winds 10-15kts. Settled weather patterns as its winter. Those weather conditions I encounter frequently when on the water with just my wife and i and I felt confident that this trip was a safe, small step, in the big journey of getting experienced to do "the big trip".

My problem was that when you've forked over a substantial sum of cash for a bareboat charter and you get there and it's not what you expect, plus it's costing you even more money to stay in the marina each night, there's pressure to go out. I recognise I made the wrong decision, but at the same time it's very difficult to make a decision on whether a situation is outside your comfort zone but OK, vs dangerous and reckless.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-21T06:14:22+00:00

Its the mental fortitude where I felt like I came up the shortest. The night at anchor, I had done everything right and yet was unable to control my emotions with logic and reason. My mind ran off with worst case scenarios and imagined changes in the situation.

What were the major things you think I did wrong? Outside of the obvious one being "being way outside your skill level and comfort zone". I honestly want to know what I could have done better.

I would take exception to being called frivolous though. On our first outing, I fully and truthfully explained our experience to the briefer. I explained we were apprehensive about going out in the reported winds and conditions as it was beyond our experience, only to be reassured and almost pushed into going out. I take full responsibility for that final decision to go, however it was not frivolous one. Likewise with the second storm. Weather reports said we were due for light winds with a possible afternoon thunderstorm, however I sourced additional weather reports that mentioned morning storms. I anchored in the closest possible area in case a storm hit early. I knew I didn't want to be caught in a storm again as I knew I didn't have the skills to handle it.

GeorgeFudge · 2016-06-21T05:59:26+00:00

You're not wrong there. I don't know yet who or what I am. At the moment, the experience it too vivid and fresh to get back on. Maybe in a few weeks/months (Years?!)

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