One year on from the release of the Housing Statement, nearly seven in 10 Victorians believe the Victorian Government is not doing enough to address the housing crisis, according to new analysis.
Polling undertaken by RedBridge on behalf of the Property Council of Australia shows one in five Victorians say their housing situation is currently unstable, emphasising the need for deeper and immediate action to be taken to address housing supply and affordability, including prioritising housing action over some government mega projects.
Property Council Victorian Executive Director Cath Evans said the new analysis reinforced that voters share the property industry’s concerns about the impact of the Victoria’s burdensome tax regime on the capacity of the industry to deliver homes and help the Government meet its target of 80,000 dwellings per year.
The polling of more than 1500 Victorians also shows:
- 46 per cent of voters said they thought property taxes and charges are the major drivers of unaffordable housing and a lack of supply.
- 70 per cent of Victorians are in favour of reducing the stamp duty burden on newly built homes to incentivise construction, while 62 per cent support a targeted and time limited increase in the first homebuyers grant to help them overcome the daunting affordability threshold.
Only 14 per cent of respondents believe the Suburban Rail Loop should remain a priority when asked to choose between the megaproject and using public funds for initiatives aimed at addressing the housing crisis, while 55 per cent of those polled believe that remaining committed to the project makes addressing the housing crisis harder.
“This data underscores the critically urgent need for targeted, time limited stimulus measures to get the pipeline of homes moving,” Ms Evans said.
“The industry is facing significant and increasing difficulty getting projects to financially stack up, as investors steer clear of Victoria’s fundamentally uncompetitive property tax regime.
“We remain supportive of the program of work laid out a year ago in the Government’s Housing Statement, but many of these new initiatives will take time before they translate directly into thesupply of new homes. A reprioritisation of government initiatives must take place to enable the delivery of targeted tax relief and concessions.
“We were supportive of the Suburban Rail Loop when it was originally announced in 2018. However, we’ve experienced a pandemic, numerous global crises and the economy has fundamentally shifted since then. The analysis shows Victorian voters want the government to respond to this changed environment and we support their assessment.
“The Property Council calls on the Victorian Government to commit to a strategic slowdown of the Suburban Rail Loop and to urgently and fundamentally reassess the delivery timeframe of the project.
“This reassessment should examine how funds allocated to the project should be redeployed in the short and medium term to support policy options that mobilise the property industry to build more homes and place downwards pressure on affordability.
“Any measures must be immediate, impactful and send a clear message to the industry and people that want to invest in Victoria that our state is open for business. We strongly encourage the Allan Government to consider for immediate implementation the expansion of stamp duty exemptions for new and unsold apartments, and a short-term increase to the first homebuyers grant to support Victorians’ ability to enter the housing market. Both policy options strongly endorsed by voters in this research.” Ms Evans said.