The prime minister says he “doesn’t want to live in a society that’s defined by intergenerational inequity” after clearance rates fell below 50% in most major capital cities in the wake of the government’s housing reforms.
Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday evening, Anthony Albanese pushed back at criticism that a post-budget fall in housing prices was evidence that Labor had taken the wrong path in legislating the taxation changes:
double quotation markWhat is important is that last Saturday, when people went to buy their own home … they weren’t competing against investors who knew that if they could bid an extra $20,000 or or $50,000, then taxpayers would essentially be subsidising that by increased deductions.
Albanese reiterated that the housing system was “broken” and pointed to treasury estimates that house prices would continue to increase, but by a lesser amount. Major banks have said prices will remain flat or marginally fall through 2026.
double quotation markThis is about making the system fairer … We know there’s been a 400% increase in house prices since 1999 – more than double than wages, and that’s why we couldn’t continue to sit back and not pursue this reform … We’ve seen homeownership rates drop for younger Australians. And I don’t want to live in a society that’s defined by intergenerational inequity.”
Greg Jericho has done some interesting analysis on house prices, and whether concern over falling prices is justified, here:
