Most new builds in Melbourne are already of low quality. I lived in an apartment built in 2013 with water leaking in from the roof three levels above, and the sound insulation was so bad I could hear my neighbours putting cutlery away. And the elevator broke down daily.

The difference is that these apartments require the vast majority of your income (rent) or a 30 year mortgage.

So PIK doesn’t sound too bad to be honest.

The obvious upside is that it does have "affordable" and "housing" in a single sentence, especially if we are not talking about Moscow (but even then your chances of owning your own home now exist).