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The House of Representatives standing committee on tax and revenue has indicated its commencement of an inquiry into the affordability and supply of housing across Australia.
Chair of the committee Jason Falinski MP has called home ownership “one of the building blocks of Australian society”.
In announcing the committee’s inquiry, the minister stated that the committee “will investigate the impact of tax and regulatory regimes on price, affordability and supply of housing in Australia today as well as into the future”.
He highlighted data from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the Treasury and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that indicates home ownership levels have been falling for the past three decades.
“In my view, this represents an urgent moral call for action by governments of all levels to restore the Australian dream for this generation and the ones that follow,” he said.
The minister acknowledged arguments about the impacts of increased subsidies and tax concessions that have continued for some time, stating that “there is ample evidence that points to the small effect such measures have on supply; indeed, the research points to limitations on land and restrictive planning laws as the major causes of shortages in supply”.
“As consistently noted by the RBA and others, regulatory settings are directly responsible for the unresponsive nature of housing supply in Australia,” he continued.
He also flagged the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) own analysis of the Australian housing market, “particularly its very high ratio of housing prices to household incomes”.
“The OECD concluded that Australia’s unusually high level of inelasticity in housing is the major driver of this ratio,” he said.
“This has resulted in our country having the fourth-fastest house price growth out of the world’s advanced economies over the past 20 years.
“This is best demonstrated by the following fact: total residential private building approvals decreasing 44 per cent across the nation from 2016–2020 compared to the previous five-year period, according to the ABS, while market supply has collapsed, with new home listings down to record lows, according to CoreLogic, using the most recent five-year average.”
Mr Falinski indicated that submissions from interested individuals and organisations are invited by Monday, 13 September 2021, with a preference that these be lodged electronically using a My Parliament account.
Further information about the inquiry, including the terms of reference, is set to become available on the committee’s website.
More to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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