2 weeks Ago
The federal government and the opposition have both announced policies to tackle the country’s housing crisis as young people in particular are priced out of the market. Labor says it wants to drop deposits for mortgages to buy a home to 5 per cent, while the Coalition wants to make mortgage repayments tax deductable. In an early release episode of The Morning Edition podcast, Brendan Coates , who is the Grattan Institute’s housing and economic security program director, talks through these policies and which could boost housing supply and home ownership with host Samantha Selinger-Morris .
To listen, click the player below, or read on for an edited extract. Selinger-Morris: What do you actually make of these policies in terms of whether they will help at all? Your introduction was lukewarm at best, I think a “pox on both your houses” is what you said. Coates: You know, the short answer is, both policies, they’re going to raise prices, right? Because you’re putting more money in the pockets of first home buyers.
Look, it might help some people into the market, but by raising prices, you’re making it harder for everyone else who doesn’t use the scheme to get in. The one saving grace is both parties are also pushing to get more housing built. So this is probably the first election in a while where we’re not just seeing the parties committing or competing over first home buyers’ votes, but they’re actually saying they’re competing over how many more homes they can build.
So those supply policies are steps in the right direction, but it doesn’t get over the fact that this is a state problem. There’s limits to what the federal government can do to solve this. Selinger-Morris: What are those main limitations? How come the federal government just can’t solve this?.
