Federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd's announcement of a National Housing Affordability Summit later this month to address Australia's housing affordability crisis was welcomed by industry groups this week.
Mr Rudd released a New Directions Paper on Housing Affordability canvassing a number of initiatives to help families reduce their mortgage burden and a series of measures which could help Australians not in the property market to save for their first home.
In a speech to the Property Council of Australia in Brisbane, Mr Rudd raised a number of options to address Australia's housing affordability crisis, including:
- Policies to assist first home buyers to save for and attain a foothold in the housing market;
- The need for housing policy coordination so that enough houses are built;
- Reform of government planning frameworks to reduce costs;
- Strategies to reduce the cost of development and supply of housing;
- Strategies to increase the supply of affordable private rental properties;
- Reform of the Commonwealth Rent Assistance scheme; and
- Proposals to boost the supply of social, emergency and indigenous housing.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) applauded the initiative.
"It is pleasing that recognition has been given to actions which need to be taken at every level of government to address issues such as the tax burden related to property purchase, land supply constraints and charges, strategies to attract private investors to the market, and importantly, the capacity for first home buyers to save a deposit", said REIA President, Graham Joyce.
"Housing affordability is a national problem and needs to be addressed with a whole-of-Government approach. The time to act is now - tens of thousands of Australian families are waiting for a result."
The Residential Development Council - which represents major housing developers nationally - said that Kevin Rudd had acknowledged what industry groups have been saying for a long time - the problems of housing are a national problem, and that issues like restricted land supply, high new homebuyer levies, and dysfunctional planning systems, are major contributors to the problem.
We give the last word to Brisbane's Courier Mail, which this week said "there is truth and sense in much of what is being claimed, counter-claimed and recommended. But what is needed now is less blaming and more working on a co-ordinated response."
