A national alliance of community housing and welfare groups is campaigning the government to abolish “unfair” negative gearing... Housing affordability improves to best mark since 2013...
Lobby groups join forces against "unfair" negative gearing
A national alliance of community housing and welfare groups is campaigning the government to abolish “unfair” negative gearing and put housing affordability at the centre of this federal election.
The alliance – made up of Homelessness Australia (HA), National Shelter, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) – has created a petition calling for tax reforms that “put ordinary people ahead of the interests of investors”.
“Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis and current tax policy has fuelled Australian housing prices to record and unaffordable levels,” ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said.
“Tax settings that encourage speculative investment and inflate house prices – like negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount – must be addressed in a new national strategy to address housing affordability.”
She said these “unfair tax concessions” cost the federal budget more than $7 billion every year with over half of these tax breaks going to investors in the top 10% of income earners.
The petition is arguing that the savings from binning negative gearing could be redirected to improve affordability, including a tax rebate for new affordable housing, and significantly increased investment in public and community housing.
Housing affordability improves to best mark since 2013
While policy makers have been called on to help improve housing affordability recently, new research has shown covering mortgage repayments in Australia is currently easier than it has been in years.
The latest Housing Affordability Report from Adelaide Bank and the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has shown that over the March 2016 quarter the proportion of income needed to meet loan repayments hit 30%, the lowest it has been at since 2013.
“The latest comprehensive data shows an improvement in housing affordability nationally with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments going down to 30% from 32.4% in the last quarter of 2015 and 30.8% a year ago,” REIA president Neville Sanders said.
“Encouragingly, seven out of eight states and territories recorded improvements, largely underpinned by lower loan sizes and moderate increases in income. A lower rate of growth in property prices, smaller loans and marginally lower interest rates resulted in lower average monthly loan repayments,” Sanders said.
The Northern Territory was the only market that saw affordability deteriorate over the quarter as the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increased by 0.7% to 21.9%.
(Your Investment Property)
Related stories:
Gearing changes wont destroy property market
Lunacy negative gearing distorting Sydney housing market
Government scraps negative gearing plans
A national alliance of community housing and welfare groups is campaigning the government to abolish “unfair” negative gearing and put housing affordability at the centre of this federal election.
The alliance – made up of Homelessness Australia (HA), National Shelter, the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) – has created a petition calling for tax reforms that “put ordinary people ahead of the interests of investors”.
“Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis and current tax policy has fuelled Australian housing prices to record and unaffordable levels,” ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said.
“Tax settings that encourage speculative investment and inflate house prices – like negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount – must be addressed in a new national strategy to address housing affordability.”
She said these “unfair tax concessions” cost the federal budget more than $7 billion every year with over half of these tax breaks going to investors in the top 10% of income earners.
The petition is arguing that the savings from binning negative gearing could be redirected to improve affordability, including a tax rebate for new affordable housing, and significantly increased investment in public and community housing.
Housing affordability improves to best mark since 2013
While policy makers have been called on to help improve housing affordability recently, new research has shown covering mortgage repayments in Australia is currently easier than it has been in years.
The latest Housing Affordability Report from Adelaide Bank and the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has shown that over the March 2016 quarter the proportion of income needed to meet loan repayments hit 30%, the lowest it has been at since 2013.
“The latest comprehensive data shows an improvement in housing affordability nationally with the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments going down to 30% from 32.4% in the last quarter of 2015 and 30.8% a year ago,” REIA president Neville Sanders said.
“Encouragingly, seven out of eight states and territories recorded improvements, largely underpinned by lower loan sizes and moderate increases in income. A lower rate of growth in property prices, smaller loans and marginally lower interest rates resulted in lower average monthly loan repayments,” Sanders said.
The Northern Territory was the only market that saw affordability deteriorate over the quarter as the proportion of income required to meet loan repayments increased by 0.7% to 21.9%.
(Your Investment Property)
Related stories:
Gearing changes wont destroy property market
Lunacy negative gearing distorting Sydney housing market
Government scraps negative gearing plans
