The Property Council of Australia today welcomed the federal Opposition’s housing announcements and its plan to take a federal leadership role in addressing housing affordability and supply.
Property Council Chief Executive Ken Morrison said the Opposition’s announcement presented a strong foundation for what is a much-needed national plan to address the housing affordability crisis.
“Housing affordability needs to be a national priority and the Opposition’s commitments are very welcome, with the need to boost housing supply the key to helping more Australians into homes,” Mr Morrison said.
“We welcome measures to help people get into the housing market and Help to Buy would be an important addition to the housing affordability schemes already in place.
“We note the proposed Help to Buy shared equity scheme is limited to 10,000 places a year and is therefore unlikely to distort housing markets or prices,” he said.
Mr Morrison also welcomed the Opposition’s plan to create a National Housing Supply and Affordability Council and called for its role to be strengthened to ensure housing supply targets are achieved.
“We strongly welcome the proposed National Housing Supply and Affordability Council with its clear responsibility to collaborate on housing targets for each state and territory and advise on best practice solutions,” Mr Morrison said.
“The proposed new body needs to have teeth, with incentives and consequences for states and territories to ensure housing targets are met,” he said. Official forecasts by the National Housing Finance Investment Corporation show a housing supply crunch on the horizon, with housing construction set to fall by around one third at the same time our population growth will be normalising, resulting in Australia finding itself 163,400 homes short of demand by 2032
“Unless Australia is able to better provide the housing supply and choice our growing communities need, affordability will remain a dire social and economic issue,” Mr Morrison said.
“Recent research conducted for the Property Council found 70 per cent of voters feared the dream of home ownership was now out of reach for most Australians, with almost 90 per cent of aspiring home owners saying housing affordability would be one of the most important issues in determining their vote.
“The provision of adequate housing supply means giving Australians housing choice – including options for older Australians to live near their kids, and teachers and nurses who deserve to live close to work.
“Housing affordability isn’t a nice to have, it’s a must have. Although people feel the dream is fading, we can actually turn it around. With the right decisions, we can in fact keep that dream alive for all Australians,” he said.
The Property Council has worked hard to draw attention to the growing issue of housing affordability in the lead up to the election, launching a campaign – called Our Dream – urging federal leaders to tackle it with considered policy solutions.
The Our Dream Property Council housing affordability campaign video can be found here .
Campaign still photography can be found here .
