It seems a good time to remember, in amongst the rhetoric of election campaigns that all parties will keep house prices where they are.
The way back to affordability is 10-20 years of marginal house price growth, to enable housing to come into line with long term trends. Fluctuations that are radical pose radical problems for politics. So they opt for the sustained. This is what I think Australia’s (and others) future housing comes down to the (continued) debasement of currency through broad (stealth) taxation.
What a game.
I suspect voting preferences will swing around the late 30s quite bad :-/
It’s a complex problem with no easy answers.
The tax benefits are what has made property a wealth creation scheme, so the problem will only get worse until that’s addressed. Generous CGT exemptions, and negative gearing.
Sadly Shorten demonstrated how little appetite Australians have for addressing that.
The liberal policy of tax deductible interest, and the Labor policy of a 5% deposit, will only make the problem worse with increased demand.
If a majority of Australians wanted to address this (they dont) then IMO the solution is land tax. Land tax on all properties with an exemption for your home, and Australian owned farm land.
Then use the revenue from this for social housing. Build low cost housing, allow tenants to have some kind of rent-to-buy scheme.
This way you’re making it less appealing to invest in property, and you’re presenting more affordable options, both of which will rationalise pricing over the coming decades.
