Victorian Homebuyer fund fails to address housing affordability crisis

The Property Council of Australia has welcomed the announcement of the Victorian Homebuyer Fund and called the State Government to scrap its proposed Windfall Gains Tax and make housing affordable to more Victorian families.

Victorian Executive Director Danni Hunter said that while the Fund would help 3,000 Victorians into their own homes, urgent action was needed from the Victorian Government to address rapidly worsening housing affordability.

“The Fund is a welcome announcement, but it will do little to address the significant structural issues behind Victoria’s housing affordability crisis”, Ms Hunter said.

“In fact, the necessity of the Fund proves that home ownership is out of reach for many Victorian families. This has only been exacerbated by the increases in property taxes under this Government.

“The Government will shortly introduce another new tax, the Windfall Gains Tax, a massive per cent tax on rezoned land and the ninth new property tax under the Andrews’ Government.

“Victorian families will be the biggest loser with the cost of housing to increase significantly as a result of the tax at a time when the booming housing market has never been tougher for more Victorians.

“This massive new tax will drive new home prices up and stall development in our urban renewal and regional areas, pushing housing further out of reach of hopeful homebuyers looking to build a better life for themselves and their families.

“If the Government is serious about housing affordability it would abandon its proposed tax and urgently increase the supply of new housing, especially in our middle suburbs and progress planning and tax reform if it wants to assist more Victorians into their own homes.

“It is a lack of supply of new homes, coupled with exorbitant property taxes, that is driving home ownership beyond the reach of many prospective first-home buyers, and any measure that does not seek to address this fails to properly address housing affordability.”

Media contact: Eric Allilomou M: 0448 291 236 E: [email protected]