Housing affordability has rightfully taken centre stage in the final week, with duelling announcements from the major parties.
For many months the Property Council has engaged with political leaders on the broad policy agenda needed for the next term of parliament. Population, housing, infrastructure, cities, net zero, investment – these are the issues we will be taking up with whoever wins on Saturday.
In the run-up to the election we sought to position housing affordability as a key policy and political issue, with the Our Dream campaign and polling showing four out of five prospective homeowners feel homeownership is unattainable.
Since then, we’ve seen the Government and Opposition announce contrasting first home buyer initiatives, a Help to Buy shared equity scheme from Labor and a Super Home Buyer scheme from the Coalition.
Additionally, both sides have committed to extending the Home Guarantee scheme to help bridge the deposit gap and incentives to encourage people to ‘right-size’ out of larger homes.
The Property Council’s main focus in the public debate has been to point to the looming housing supply crunch and the importance of policies to tackle this. The official housing forecasts from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation show housing supply is set to fall by around one third, right at the time our population growth is restarting – a dangerous situation for housing affordability.
This call has received strong support from economists, experts and the media. Pleasingly, the Opposition has announced it would create a National Housing Supply and Affordability Council to set supply targets for the states and territories, although this will need genuine teeth to be effective.
Whoever wins on Saturday will need to address this housing supply issue and many others. The Property Council is ready to work with the government and the Parliament on the agenda for Australia’s future.
Enjoy your democracy sausage!
