MELBOURNE – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticized for buying a multimillion-dollar waterfront home during a national housing crisis with federal elections just months away.
Critics argue that the purchase of the 4.3 million Australian dollar ($2.9 million) clifftop home at Copacabana, north of his hometown of Sydney, made him appear out of touch with many Australians who are struggling to buy or rent a home due to elevated interest rates, rising prices and limited supply.
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Albanese brushed off criticisms Wednesday when questioned by reporters about concerns raised privately within his own government.
“We want to get on with helping Australians, whether it be public housing, whether it be rentals or whether it be buying their own homes,” Albanese said.
Copacabana and several other beaches in the area have mainly multi-million dollar price tags on their waterfront homes, owned by Sydney-siders who still have homes in the city or have moved to a more tranquil lifestyle.
Opposition lawmaker Sussan Ley described the purchase as evidence that Albanese was “out of touch,” and her colleague Angie Bell described the timing as “questionable.”
“The real issue for Australians is a lot of people want to be able to buy a home, but they’re finding it very, very difficult and the current government is doing a very poor job at getting the policy settings in place to make it easier,” opposition lawmaker Paul Fletcher told Sky News Australia.
Government lawmakers have publicly backed Albanese.
“I think the average Australian says, 'Fair enough, leave him alone, I'll criticize his policies or I'll support his policies, I'll criticize or support his government, but I'm not going to criticize or support what he does with his own bank account with his own money,'” Cabinet minister Chris Bowen told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party seeks a second three-year term in office at elections due by May next year.
Monash University political scientist Zareh Ghazarian described the buy as “politically risky” ahead of an election in which housing affordability will be “at the top of the policy agenda.”
“For the prime minister to make this purchase in this climate is just distracting for the Labor Party," Ghazarian said.
Ghazarian said the home also damaged Albanese’s political brand. Albanese, who is paid an annual salary exceeding AU$600,000 ($400,000), maintains that being raised in public housing by a single mom gave him an appreciation of the financial struggles of low-income families.
A Sydney radio station first reported the real estate transaction on Tuesday. Albanese’s offer for the four-bedroom house was made in September and the sale was expected to be completed by the end of October.
On Tuesday, Albanese explained he was buying the house because the family of his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, lived on the Central Coast. Albanese lives in the prime minister’s official residences in Sydney and the national capital Canberra. He said he was selling his private Sydney house which would help pay for the Copacabana home.
“I am much better off as prime minister. I earn a good income. I understand that. I understand that I’ve been fortunate,” Albanese said. “But I also know what it’s like to struggle. My mum lived in the one public housing that she was born in for all of her 65 years. And I know what it’s like, which is why I want to help all Australians into a home, whether it be public homes or private rentals or home ownership."
Australia’s property market is among the most expensive in the world, with Sydney regularly featuring in lists of the world’s least affordable cities.
Residential property prices rose by 32.5% across Australia in four years as of February, despite the cash interest rate rising from 0.25% to 4.35% in that period, according to financial data company CoreLogic.
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales state, where real estate prices are Australia’s highest. The price of the average New South Wales dwelling was AU$1.2 million ($817,000) in the latest June quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.