Last night, we finished our National Housing Solutions Summit having been addressed by the Federal Housing Minister, Shadow Housing Minister, Leader of the Victorian Opposition, Lord Mayor of Melbourne and the Chair of the Productivity Commission among a sea of stars.
A terrific chance to shape the public debate, which we took by the horns.
The damage caused by roller coaster tax settings on investment, the need for doubling down on state planning and delivery and the importance of government funding social housing all got the run they deserved.
Expect to hear much more in the housing debate over the next ten days as postal ballots start flying thick and fast.
While we will not be attending party political policy launches during the campaign, we remain in a strong position to work on pro-investment settings with whomever forms government on their agenda.
Burning the midnight oil
In Canberra last week we got two important sets of guidance out of the parliamentary machine.
The first is build-to-rent (BTR). In an ideal world, these MIT withholding tax and related arrangements would have been completed 12 months ago. Hat tip to our BTR Roundtable for unblinking patience and our clever team for getting the defibrillators fired up on at least six occasions. Should the government be returned, there would be a twelve-month efficacy review, and we will be on that like a rash.
As of Friday, hard-won concessions in the government’s draft Competition and Consumer (Notification of Acquisitions) Determination 2025 exempt certain land acquisitions, reaffirming its October 2024 commitment to the Property Council to exclude resi development and some commercial transactions.
Following further advocacy, lease renewals and extensions for commercial land are also exempt, reducing unnecessary Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reviews for low-risk property deals.
Before these exemptions were secured, thousands of vanilla property deals would have got lodged in the bowels of the ACCC. Next step – clarifying the impact on new leases.
Help us serve and champion you
Our Member Survey will help the National Board of the Property Council better serve its members and guide our work over the year ahead.
Please take some time to tell us what you like and, equally importantly, what we can improve on.
Look out for the link in your inboxes.
Next week – election volume up to eleven