Monday 18 March 2024
MEDIA RELEASE
Property Council pre-budget submission lays out pathway for Victoria to achieve 800,000 home target
The Property Council has today released its 2024-25 Victorian pre-budget submission, laying out a vision for how the Victorian Government can unlock investment and boost property industry and consumer confidence to address the state’s housing supply and affordability crisis.
Property Council Victorian Executive Director Cath Evans said a new approach is desperately needed to ensure that the reforms and targets set out in the government’s housing statement are speedily and effectively implemented.
“The release of the housing statement six months ago provided much needed clarity on the government’s priorities for growing housing supply. It is now imperative that those commitments are followed up by concrete actions to mobilise the private sector to overcome the scale of the challenge facing us,” Ms Evans said.
“The government and our industry clearly share the goal of effectively addressing supply issues and supporting housing aspirations for Victorians. However, industry is not seeing the ambitious changes to economic and tax settings needed from the Allan Government to match their promises.
“The reality is that Victoria is competing for investment in a challenging national and global marketplace. Too often in recent times we have seen tax changes that have been regressive rather than progressive, which has made Victoria an increasingly unattractive place for people to invest their money. This has dire implications for our industry’s ability to build the homes to meet the target of 800,000 new dwellings in the next decade.
“With the Allan Government’s focus on housing growth in established areas, ambitious and innovative policy solutions are required to attract the necessary investment to make this vision a reality.
“We have proposed the creation of state-led ‘Special Economic Zones’ in metropolitan and regional centres that combine special planning schemes with tax incentives aimed at activating development.
“Broadly based on the existing Queensland Priority Development Area regime, Special Economic Zones have also been used overseas with great success to enable governments to maximise the potential of important places and communities.
“We acknowledge the current budget limitations and the breadth of challenges faced by the Allan Government as they pursue a debt recovery strategy, but put simply – staying still for the next 12 months means falling way behind the rest of the nation and prolonging the housing supply crisis,” said Ms Evans.
You can find a copy of the Property Council’s 2024-25 Pre-Budget Submission here.
ENDS
Media contact: Dominic Raff | 0478 819 525 | [email protected]