Housing dream fades at petrol pump

peakoil.com (thread) -> heraldsun.news.com.au :

High petrol prices are killing the dream of home ownership for thousands of people in Melbourne's outer suburbs. Home ownership is being pushed out of reach for those on the urban fringe hit by a triple whammy of long journeys to work, scarce public transport and dearer petrol.

A study by Dr Jago Dodson and Dr Neil Snipe of Griffith University's Urban Research program, released this month, reveals petrol costs have pushed 350,000 Melburnians into financial stress. The study found "oil stress" and "oil vulnerability" became progressively worse in areas farther from the CBD. Suburban households were more likely to own two or more vehicles and be more heavily car-dependent than their inner-city counterparts.

The harsh impact of high petrol prices was worse in Melbourne compared with Sydney and Brisbane, the study says. It was the only city of the three where residents spent a greater proportion of their wage on running their car than on running their house.

The study recommends spending more on public transport to give suburban dwellers more commuting options. "Continuing the present model of road-driven urban transport policy may only make any eventual adjustment to accommodate higher fuel prices more painful, complex and fractious," the study says.

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