Has QLD’s state budget hit the mark on housing?

As state capital Brisbane prepares for the infrastructure and population boost hosting the 2032 Olympics will birth, and with housing supply already stretched thin across the Sunshine State — where vacancy rates are dropping as low as 0.2 per cent — the government promoted the budget as containing “the answers [Queenslanders] seek about housing relief”, according to Antonia Mercorella, chief executive officer at the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).

According to the state government, the 2023–24 budget contained the largest concentrated housing investment in Queensland history, with $5 billion promised towards the delivery of social and affordable housing, as well as housing and homelessness support.

This investment comprises $3 billion to boost the Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021–2025 and a $2 billion investment in the state’s Housing Investment Fund, while $322 million in funding will also be diverted towards expanding the Quickstarts Qld social housing construction program for another 500 potential homes.

Additionally, just under $250 million will be spent on retaining and upgrading dwellings for social housing.

The government also proposed $130 million will be invested each year from the $2 billion Housing Investment Fund into affordable and social housing outcomes.

State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated her government is “focused on tackling the impacts of national cost-of-living and housing pressures”. She added they are “pulling every lever possible to ensure Queenslanders have a roof over their head”.

With widespread housing pressures being felt in all corners of the state, from Currumbin to Cairns, Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick stressed the government recognises these stresses.

“That’s why this budget is locking in even more funding for social and affordable housing and sees us continue our work with the private sector, community housing organisations, and financial institutions to build, buy, or lease more homes for Queenslanders,” he said.

Other housing related initiatives included in the 2023–24 Queensland state budget include:

- $13.9 million towards on-site support at three former retirement villages turned into emergency accommodation in Redlands, Toowoomba, and Clayfield

- $64.3 million to be utilised to purchase, lease, and operate emergency supported accommodation in Brisbane

- $28 million for the Immediate Housing Response Package in 2023–24, providing emergency accommodation for families living in insecure and unsafe conditions and rental support to those needing to maintain tenancies

- $128 million will be funnelled into improvements for housing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

- The Helping Seniors Secure Their Homes initiative will expand into Cairns and Toowoomba, backed by $30 million in funding

The budget builds on several already implemented initiatives, including the state’s Build to Rent program, investment in community housing organisations, rental grants and bond loans, head leasing and building government employee housing.

With housing a fundamental right in the eyes of state Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon, the member for Gaven shared her belief the budget “builds on our record to help even more Queenslanders”.

“Because a home isn’t just some walls and a roof, it’s where you can get a head start on a good job, education, and access to healthcare,” she added.

However, while acknowledging the budget, billed as containing record investment in housing, ticks all the boxes related to cost-of-living support, Antonia Mercorella insisted “the elephant in the room remains around how Queensland will adequately boost its housing supply”.

She welcomed the formalisation of previously announced schemes targeting the build-to-rent (BTR) sector, which she believes will help the sector “complement the traditional private housing investor and help ease the pressures of the rental crisis”.

“It’s particularly pleasing to see the flexibility extended to ensure the development are mixed use, however, questions remain around the compliance requirements and the definition of ‘affordable housing’,” she said.

She noted a divide exists between the “incentives provided to large institutional investors” and “the way small investors are treated” and hopes this doesn’t jeopardise future housing supply, especially if “a majority of resources are directed towards BTR projects”.

However, the REIQ’s top executive revealed several of the budget’s glaring holes, particularly regarding its social housing funding, which she slammed as “dreadfully deficient”. Her assessment is related to the budget’s financial commitment to social housing remaining “75 per cent below historical averages, which puts Queensland dead last in the country”.

Ms Mercorella criticised the government for failing to include any “incentives to meaningfully boost supply and increase the current rate of build,” especially in light of the state’s persistent housing shortfall, with Queensland’s 50,000-strong social housing waitlist “growing longer by the day”.

This, she explained, is occurring “all at a time when the government seems intent on reducing private housing supply”.

She believes the Palaszczuk government missed a chance to follow the lead of southern neighbours, NSW, and undertake property tax reform. Earlier this year, newly elected NSW Premier Chris Minns announced scrapping the land tax scheme initially promised by his election adversary and the man who preceded him in the state’s top job, Dominic Perrottet, in favour of Labor’s updated stamp duty scheme — which included the elimination of the tax for first home buyers purchasing a property below $800,000.

Ms Mercorella believes the abolishment of stamp duty, a taxation scheme she stressed “significantly hinders home ownership, discourages housing turnover, and restricts mobility” would “open doors in Queensland for many”.

Given the windfall from coal royalties provided the government with an ideal opportunity to scrap stamp duty in favour of a longer-term tax scheme, the REIQ CEO expressed dismay at stamp duty’s continued presence in the state’s economy ecosystem.

“With the government expecting to raise $31 billion over the next four years from the property sector, it’s disappointing that there’s no relief in sight for property investors,” Ms Mercorella concluded.