For water-loving property buyers, this lakeside property is the perfect place to invest. Wake up to a bracing sea breeze from your own private stagnant water source.
Perhaps not an attractive proposition for serious property investors, but for many people in Asia this is the reality of daily life.
A new Australian satirical website from Habitat for Humanity has been launched to provide disheartened property searchers with some light relief, but also shines the light on a serious housing crisis of a different sort.
The median house price in Sydney has reached an all-time high of AUD$811,837. While this could build 400 houses in Nepal or 200 in Cambodia, there are millions living in substandard conditions – and this number is growing.
The delights of ‘alfresco and ‘waterfront’ living are on offer for just a few thousand dollars on a phony real estate site – The Real Value of Housing.
“The reality is that these ‘homes’ represent the substandard housing that condemns millions of families across Asia Pacific to live in poverty and disease without access to safe water, sanitation or even a locking door,” said Habitat for Humanity Australia, Chief Executive Officer Martin Thomas.
“We are not trying to make people feel guilty or dismiss the very real housing problems in Australia. But sometimes it is good to look around at some of the challenges other people are facing.”
With 500 million people living in slums across Asia today, the growth of its largest cities has created a shelter crisis which is akin to “a humanitarian crisis in slow motion”, Thomas added.
The Real Value of Housing, supported by the Department of Foreign Affair and Trade (DFAT) is raising awareness of the growing rate of slums and the need for adequate housing.
Habitat for Humanity, the world’s largest not-for-profit housing provider, is aiming to provide safe and affordable homes to 15 million people in Asia Pacific by 2020, and engage another 10 million as volunteers, advocates and supporters.
It costs just S$3,000 to build a house in many parts of Asia for a poor family and thousands of from throughout Southeast Asia volunteer each year to help build houses as part of the organisation’s Global Village program.
http://www.realvaluehousing.com.au/
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
