The Property Council of Australia has welcomed a new report on housing affordability, saying governments need to focus on solutions that will make a difference not political distractions.
The report released by CoreLogic and Australian National University shows an increasing gap between household income and the money required for a 20 per cent housing deposit.
“This new report shows the problem for all to see – now we need solutions that will make a difference, not political distractions,” says Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council.
“Real solutions are required to ease housing prices for homebuyers – and that is largely through increasing the supply of housing.
“The reason the report finds the proportion of household income needed to buy a Sydney home has increased 168 per cent is due to the low supply of housing in that city for over 15 years.
“Despite being a far bigger state, NSW has achieved 112,000 less building approvals than Victoria over the last decade. The last time NSW approved more dwellings than Victoria was in 1998. This is the reason why Melbourne house prices are 30% cheaper than Sydney’s.
“Planning laws need to be reformed to remove unnecessary delays and costs which are driving up the costs of all new dwellings.
“All levels of government need to take responsibility – which is why we need a deal between the Commonwealth, states and territories to incentivise reform to fix housing supply.
“The continuing debate over negative gearing reform is a political distraction. The McKell Institute – the authors of the federal opposition’s policy – estimate that negative gearing reform would only change prices by 0.49 percent.
“What is the point of a housing affordability policy that does next to nothing about housing affordability?”
Media contact: Matt Cross | E [email protected]