PHOTO: Australians are getting locked out of the homeownership market for good
Australians are poised to let another opportunity to reform our broken housing market pass us by – just like we did a decade ago after the mid 2000s property boom.
The pattern is well established now. As property prices rise, we wring our hands and worry about our kids being able to afford property – rightly singling out investor tax breaks, stamp duty and the unfair tax treatment of the family home as key reform areas. Then, the market turns. We sit on our hands and dither, concern for future generations surpassed by concern about our own depreciating asset. Or worse: we deliberately implement policies that add fuel to the property fire, just as the Rudd government did by increasing first home buyer grants during the global financial crisis. Boom inevitably follows bust. Price rises get built into the system. And another rung of lower income Australians get locked out of the homeownership market for good.
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