Satirist Mark Humphries has released a new one-hour special, Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream?, on Foxtel and Binge, tackling Australia's housing affordability crisis. The documentary sees Humphries, a long-term renter, explore the history, economic policies, and myths behind the crisis, interviewing celebrity realtors, squatters, and economists.
Humphries challenges common scapegoats such as foreign investment and immigration. Professor Nicole Gurran from the University of Sydney tells him these factors have had only a minor impact, questioning the 'X-ray vision' of those who claim to identify foreign investors at auctions.
The special includes a segment where Humphries puts economist Alan Kohler in a bubble bath, Margot Robbie-style, to explain how the Howard government's 50% tax discount on capital gains and negative gearing 'supercharged the perceived benefits of owning property', turning housing from shelter into an investment.
Humphries also speaks to renters enduring poor conditions, public housing tenants, and squatters occupying vacant homes. He meets a 'heartless boomer investor' who turns out to be a kind former colleague with two properties, highlighting the defensive self-interest that hinders reform. The documentary concludes with Humphries visiting a 3D-printing entrepreneur creating cheap, unusual homes.
