July 21, 2025 • 7 mins
Our good friend Mark Humphries joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about his new documentary, Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
My Heart podcasts, hear more Gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
And Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Learning a home has long been tipped to be the
Australian dream. Is it the Australian dream? And is it
unrealistic to still have this as the Australian dream. This
is all being explored in a new docu series called
sold Who Broke the Australian Dream by Mark Humphrey's.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Mark I Oh, Hello, Amanda and Jersey Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So I remember was it a couple of years ago
were you in passing mentioned publicly that you were renting
and people were shocked and almost outraged if you hadn't
entered the housing market.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
They were annoyed at me, just like it was some
sort of failing on my part. And I just think that,
you know, there's a third of us are renters, and
for many people it is just becoming, Yes, beyond the dream.
It's a fantasy. It's just not You just used to
feel like, oh, it's going to be really hard to
get there, but now it feels like, oh, I should
just give up. So and there's no amount of coffees
or avocado toasts that I can stop eating. That is
(01:14):
going to get me across the line. And so yeah,
it really is bleak out there.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
If you own a home, you kind of once you've
crossed that threshold, you sort of got that relief, but
there's still this sizeable chunk of Australians for whom it's
really really bleak.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Psychologically though it's getting over that hurdle. I remember when
I was young, I didn't think I would ever buy
a house. I didn't think and that was back in
the nineties, and I always thought that, wow, I'm not
going to matter afford a house. It's not going to
happen for me. And then I remember I bought a
house in Brisbane which was cheap. And then when we
came to Sydney back home, I remember buying this house
and it was like three hundred and eighty seven thousand.
(01:49):
I said, that's the most money that you could and
I remember thinking, we're going to be eating two minute
noodles for the rest of our lives. But it's a
psychological step. And then someone said to me, they said,
the bank doesn't want to repossess your home. The bank
is using you to increase their wealth because you're buying
the house.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I mean well, I mean you know, as a rental
you go from paying off someone else's mortgage to then
a homeowner and paying the bank. You're helping them out,
so no one's winning, you know. That's the thing. It's
a rough across the board.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
My husband used to work for The Money Show years
ago as a producer, and one of the things that
Paul Clitheroe, the host, used to say that, yes, if
you're not going to buy a house, that's fine, that's absolutely,
but put some money aside because what your house is
is supposedly a nest egg when you're no longer earning
a living. Is that still how that is seen?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well? I think I think people the attitude that I've
seen in terms of people that have been looking to
buy or people who have bought, is that, yes, they
expect that this is something that will increase in value.
And I think this is what we sort of talk
about in the documentary, that this is something This idea
of that housing must go up is almost really a
sickness that has taken hold in the last twenty five
(03:04):
years or so since some changes were made to some
tax incentives, and it's become so ingrained now that we
just think that's a standard thing that you buy a
house and the value goes up. But obviously that is
not a sustainable system for people who are trying to
enter the housing Well.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There was a guy that said it. His name was
Harvey Dent. No, hang on, that's a bad guy from Badman,
isn't it. Anyway, there was a dude that has been
saying the Australian pro pricing or house bubble is going
to burst. So he was saying that that for.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You exactly, I'm still waiting for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
But so what will happen when they get to a
point where all of a sudden houses won't be worth anything?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I mean I really ideally we would slowly because you
don't want to crash the housing market. I mean that
doesn't benefit us. But the idea of slowly just pairing
it back so that houses ideally would just remain static,
you know, or not certainly not be advancing at the
astonishing rate that we've seen in recent years. So yeah,
it's not about suddenly wanting all housing to suddenly go
(03:58):
down twenty percent, But realistically we need to just make
changes foreign ownership.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Wouldn't you think like if old mate from China comes
over here and buys up sixteen houses.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I mean, you know, if you in this documentary, that
issue is so all these sort of hot button issues
foreign investment, immigration, they're all covered in the documentary. I
can answer those questions now, or I can provide a
little bit of sizzel and tell people to get to
Ben's and voxtell.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
But is that true? I mean, what can you do
to stop the constant increase in prices when you said
if we can manage that, but what are those things? Well?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I mean, so the thing that we know, one of
the things that we're looking at with this is in
terms of yes, there were these changes that were introduced
regarding negative gearing and capital gains tax about twenty five
years ago, and that really supercharged the market. So every
so often you see politicians like Bill Shorten, who's in
this documentary, we try to make changes to that, but
it is politically unpopular because the majority of people are homeowners.
(04:58):
That's about two homeowners to every one renter, and so
it's not really in the majority of people's best interests
to have any changes. And so that's The difficult thing
that we're trying to do with this documentary is kind
of get everyone to understand that as a society, we
all suffer if we've got a sort of excuse me,
sort of underclass of people, especially our essential workers. You know,
if nurses, if teachers, firefighters, the police, if they can't
(05:20):
afford to live in the city that they are servicing,
then we all suffer. So what is the value in
having a nurse doing a twelve hour shift and then
have to travel one and a half hours.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You gave a nurse a fire fighter or a police officer,
you just say he's a house.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I mean, can you do that? Is that? Because remember
when Russell said years.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Ago, he said, why don't we just give every other
eton bucks? I remember the time thinking, oh, that sounds
like a reasonable idea.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
But then you'd get you'd get somebody saying, well, my
job isn't A nurse isn't or whatever, but I need to.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Have sure exactly yes, I don't have the answer that.
It was a very Oprah Winfrey kind of you get.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
A because when she did that car thing, everyone had
to pay tax on the car, all right, So she
was doing old made of favor, but all of a sudden,
the government I r I said, are you I was
seven grand for the car that you got from open
I think.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I remember the the guy who won the first season
of Survivor. I think got unstuck. You won a million dollars.
But then there was a huge tax bill. Is terrible.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You've recently bought property, so how do you feel about that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Well, I mean, this is immense relief on one level,
but then also that feeling of like, okay, so I'm
thirty nine now, so I'll technically properly own this house
when I'm seventy, and that's such a bizarre concept. And
so yes, it's a huge relief to not be, like
I said, paying off someone else's mortgage. But now, of course,
you know, every homeowner knows how much you're agonizing over
interest rates. You saw how when the Reserve Bank kept
(06:40):
them on hold, that there was all this agony or
we were expecting a rate cut, and so you're suddenly
you know that you're now at the mercy of that
process as well. So it's just it's just not working
for anyone. We're also and distressed. This is a funny documentary.
I'm gonna quite worked up, but it is. There are jokes,
it's sort of it helps the medicine go down.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Wow, welcome to the party, pal. It's a great show.
Solt Who Broke the Australian Dream is out now on
Binge and Fox. Tell Mark Humphrey's sec for Jodi us Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Jersey and Amanda. What a thrill.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Thank you.
My Heart podcasts, hear more Gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
And Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Learning a home has long been tipped to be the
Australian dream. Is it the Australian dream? And is it
unrealistic to still have this as the Australian dream. This
is all being explored in a new docu series called
sold Who Broke the Australian Dream by Mark Humphrey's.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Mark I Oh, Hello, Amanda and Jersey Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So I remember was it a couple of years ago
were you in passing mentioned publicly that you were renting
and people were shocked and almost outraged if you hadn't
entered the housing market.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
They were annoyed at me, just like it was some
sort of failing on my part. And I just think that,
you know, there's a third of us are renters, and
for many people it is just becoming, Yes, beyond the dream.
It's a fantasy. It's just not You just used to
feel like, oh, it's going to be really hard to
get there, but now it feels like, oh, I should
just give up. So and there's no amount of coffees
or avocado toasts that I can stop eating. That is
(01:14):
going to get me across the line. And so yeah,
it really is bleak out there.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
If you own a home, you kind of once you've
crossed that threshold, you sort of got that relief, but
there's still this sizeable chunk of Australians for whom it's
really really bleak.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Psychologically though it's getting over that hurdle. I remember when
I was young, I didn't think I would ever buy
a house. I didn't think and that was back in
the nineties, and I always thought that, wow, I'm not
going to matter afford a house. It's not going to
happen for me. And then I remember I bought a
house in Brisbane which was cheap. And then when we
came to Sydney back home, I remember buying this house
and it was like three hundred and eighty seven thousand.
(01:49):
I said, that's the most money that you could and
I remember thinking, we're going to be eating two minute
noodles for the rest of our lives. But it's a
psychological step. And then someone said to me, they said,
the bank doesn't want to repossess your home. The bank
is using you to increase their wealth because you're buying
the house.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I mean well, I mean you know, as a rental
you go from paying off someone else's mortgage to then
a homeowner and paying the bank. You're helping them out,
so no one's winning, you know. That's the thing. It's
a rough across the board.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
My husband used to work for The Money Show years
ago as a producer, and one of the things that
Paul Clitheroe, the host, used to say that, yes, if
you're not going to buy a house, that's fine, that's absolutely,
but put some money aside because what your house is
is supposedly a nest egg when you're no longer earning
a living. Is that still how that is seen?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well? I think I think people the attitude that I've
seen in terms of people that have been looking to
buy or people who have bought, is that, yes, they
expect that this is something that will increase in value.
And I think this is what we sort of talk
about in the documentary, that this is something This idea
of that housing must go up is almost really a
sickness that has taken hold in the last twenty five
(03:04):
years or so since some changes were made to some
tax incentives, and it's become so ingrained now that we
just think that's a standard thing that you buy a
house and the value goes up. But obviously that is
not a sustainable system for people who are trying to
enter the housing Well.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There was a guy that said it. His name was
Harvey Dent. No, hang on, that's a bad guy from Badman,
isn't it. Anyway, there was a dude that has been
saying the Australian pro pricing or house bubble is going
to burst. So he was saying that that for.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You exactly, I'm still waiting for Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
But so what will happen when they get to a
point where all of a sudden houses won't be worth anything?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I mean I really ideally we would slowly because you
don't want to crash the housing market. I mean that
doesn't benefit us. But the idea of slowly just pairing
it back so that houses ideally would just remain static,
you know, or not certainly not be advancing at the
astonishing rate that we've seen in recent years. So yeah,
it's not about suddenly wanting all housing to suddenly go
(03:58):
down twenty percent, But realistically we need to just make
changes foreign ownership.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Wouldn't you think like if old mate from China comes
over here and buys up sixteen houses.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I mean, you know, if you in this documentary, that
issue is so all these sort of hot button issues
foreign investment, immigration, they're all covered in the documentary. I
can answer those questions now, or I can provide a
little bit of sizzel and tell people to get to
Ben's and voxtell.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
But is that true? I mean, what can you do
to stop the constant increase in prices when you said
if we can manage that, but what are those things? Well?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I mean, so the thing that we know, one of
the things that we're looking at with this is in
terms of yes, there were these changes that were introduced
regarding negative gearing and capital gains tax about twenty five
years ago, and that really supercharged the market. So every
so often you see politicians like Bill Shorten, who's in
this documentary, we try to make changes to that, but
it is politically unpopular because the majority of people are homeowners.
(04:58):
That's about two homeowners to every one renter, and so
it's not really in the majority of people's best interests
to have any changes. And so that's The difficult thing
that we're trying to do with this documentary is kind
of get everyone to understand that as a society, we
all suffer if we've got a sort of excuse me,
sort of underclass of people, especially our essential workers. You know,
if nurses, if teachers, firefighters, the police, if they can't
(05:20):
afford to live in the city that they are servicing,
then we all suffer. So what is the value in
having a nurse doing a twelve hour shift and then
have to travel one and a half hours.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You gave a nurse a fire fighter or a police officer,
you just say he's a house.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I mean, can you do that? Is that? Because remember
when Russell said years.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Ago, he said, why don't we just give every other
eton bucks? I remember the time thinking, oh, that sounds
like a reasonable idea.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
But then you'd get you'd get somebody saying, well, my
job isn't A nurse isn't or whatever, but I need to.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Have sure exactly yes, I don't have the answer that.
It was a very Oprah Winfrey kind of you get.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
A because when she did that car thing, everyone had
to pay tax on the car, all right, So she
was doing old made of favor, but all of a sudden,
the government I r I said, are you I was
seven grand for the car that you got from open
I think.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I remember the the guy who won the first season
of Survivor. I think got unstuck. You won a million dollars.
But then there was a huge tax bill. Is terrible.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You've recently bought property, so how do you feel about that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Well, I mean, this is immense relief on one level,
but then also that feeling of like, okay, so I'm
thirty nine now, so I'll technically properly own this house
when I'm seventy, and that's such a bizarre concept. And
so yes, it's a huge relief to not be, like
I said, paying off someone else's mortgage. But now, of course,
you know, every homeowner knows how much you're agonizing over
interest rates. You saw how when the Reserve Bank kept
(06:40):
them on hold, that there was all this agony or
we were expecting a rate cut, and so you're suddenly
you know that you're now at the mercy of that
process as well. So it's just it's just not working
for anyone. We're also and distressed. This is a funny documentary.
I'm gonna quite worked up, but it is. There are jokes,
it's sort of it helps the medicine go down.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Wow, welcome to the party, pal. It's a great show.
Solt Who Broke the Australian Dream is out now on
Binge and Fox. Tell Mark Humphrey's sec for Jodi us Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Jersey and Amanda. What a thrill.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Thank you.
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