Villas and villas are getting smaller and smaller as the mining boom intensifies.
Villas in the north-east and the southern part of Queensland have become so cramped that they are becoming “doomed to extinction”.
The story of how they came to be is one of resilience and determination as Australia, still recovering from the global financial crisis, struggles to find its footing again.
A new study from Australia’s Bureau of Statistics found the number of people living in dwellings of less than 30sq m fell by more than 60 per cent from 2015 to 2020.
This decline in the number is driven by people moving to smaller towns, but is also down from more than 90 per cent in the 1980s.
Villages in the northern states have also seen the decline in population and are also experiencing a housing shortage.
In the past decade, the number living in homes of less that 20sq m has more than doubled.
Villagnes are a way of life that have long been a staple of the rural economy, and in many areas they are already disappearing.
“There is an issue of density that is creating a housing crisis in rural areas,” said Fiona Scott, a senior economist at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics (AussieAxe).
Villas were once a way for the locals to get around and live in their communities. “
The lack of people to buy houses and get on the housing ladder is a big issue.”
Villas were once a way for the locals to get around and live in their communities.
But the mining sector has made the village a commodity, and that has driven many locals to leave the region.
Villager Pauline Leyser said she could not believe how things had changed over the years.
“You can’t say, ‘We have to go to China or Russia.’ “
“I hope that people don’t lose hope because there are so many opportunities out there, and the future is bright.””
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I hope that people don’t lose hope because there are so many opportunities out there, and the future is bright.”