It's the Australian dream, we're brought up to believe that's out duty in life: find a girl, buy a house, have some kids, and settle down.

I have colleagues that commute over an hour each way to get to work, just so they can have a back yard. It is a bit different when you have kids though. I live 20 minutes walk from work on a post stamp sized section, but I wouldn't raise kids where I live. Too many heroin addicts and not enough open space.

My concern is a 2 bedroom starts at ~$600k within 20 km of Melbourne CBD and 3 bedroom is about ~$1m in most close suburbs. In tech you don't have a whole lot of choice to work for a leading company if you aren't in Melbourne or Sydney.

It's an interestingly white collar problem.

If you're a blue collar worker, you can usually find a job near where you live. If you're a white collar worker, you need to find a house near where your job is.

If you're a tradie in Melbourne or Sydney, you can live in the suburbs and find a job in the suburbs. But all the tech workers are stuck working in the city, so you either spend a literal fortune on a house nearby (buying or renting are both expensive), or have a massive commute.

It does give me pause for thought. I'm nowhere near close to settling down or having kids (not that I have any desire to), but if it does happen, I'm not sure what I'd do. Commuting for an hour each way doesn't sound like my kind of lifestyle.