UDIA National welcomes initiatives that have been advanced by the Commonwealth Government in the past year to support economic growth, housing markets, infrastructure investment and stronger cities.
These include:
- An expanded mandate and funding for the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) to more rigorously analyse housing supply, demand and affordability;
- Passage of legislation to support the commencement of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme on January 1st, 2020;
- Establishment of a new Centre for Population and National Population Plan to better inform forecasts about populating and immigration rates, settlement patterns and related issues;
- Retention of existing arrangements around negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount;
- A new loan serviceability assessment regime recently announced and implemented by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority; and
- Initiation of an independent review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
These have collectively conveyed that the Commonwealth Government has a clear eye on the need to build a more robust economy, boost investment in our cities and regions, lift housing supply and improve housing affordability and better align policy making across all tiers of government.
However, there are further steps that need to be pursued to consolidate the benefits of reform and accelerate investment in removing barriers to well-functioning housing markets and the delivery of sufficient supply to meet growing population.
Our submission focuses on three core themes:
- Making new housing construction a public policy priority due to the economic significance of the sector;
- Addressing the emerging risk, the current state of housing markets poses to economic growth, housing supply and affordability for homebuyers;
- Prioritising policies which crucially help cut red and green tape, transform inefficient and inequitable taxes and secure better dividends from infrastructure investment.
UDIA National’s Recommendations
- Priority #1: Streamline Red and Green Tape
- Priority #2: Busting the Barriers to Housing Supply
- Priority #3: Reduce the Red Tape on Housing
- Priority #4: Leveraging Infrastructure to Diversify Housing Stock
- Priority #5: More Integrated Government