Coalition will let first home buyers unlock superannuation to get deposit Peter LawPerthNow May 15, 2022 1:14PM https://www.perthnow.com.au/politic...nlock-superannuation-to-get-deposit-c-6803903 First homebuyers will be able to use their superannuation to get in the property market, Scott Morrison has announced at the Coalition’s official campaign launch on Sunday, five days prior to an election. Under a Coalition re-election promise, an individual would be allowed to invest up to 40 per cent of their superannuation balance, up to a maximum of $50,000, towards a deposit for a first home. Couples may both access the scheme up to a maximum of $100,000. There would be no income or property caps under the so-called Super Home Buyer Scheme, with eligibility restricted to first homebuyers who must have separately saved five per cent of the deposit........ .......................................... Once again, this is slanted and rewards rich people first. They have more money in superannuation, therefore pulling out $50,000 or $100,000 for a couple is no hardship, but for low income earners, it basically depletes their superannuation, when they reach retirement, there wont be much in the account.
Politician will attempt to pull every lever they can but one, the overly healthy perks and tax breaks wealthy people have access to.
Just one Sydney council to make big increase to housing supply in next five years By Michael Koziol May 17, 2022 Just nine Sydney council areas are expected to build more homes in the next five years than they did in the past five – and only one by a significant number – underscoring the stubborn supply drought contributing to the city’s housing affordability crisis. It comes as experts questioned whether the major parties’ policies to boost supply – which Labor’s Jason Clare called “the Gordian knot” of the housing problem – would have the desired effect, and called for a bigger focus on that side of the issue, rather than purchasing. Only nine of 31 Sydney councils are forecast to build more homes in the next five years than they did in the past five.Credit:Bloomberg “Supply is really important, and nothing that’s been offered so far will make a real difference,” said Brendan Coates, director of the Grattan Institute’s economic policy program. Data from the state government’s Urban Development Program shows 181,000 new dwellings were built in Greater Sydney over the past five years, led by Parramatta (18,016), Blacktown (17, 761) and the City of Sydney (15,384)....... https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...upply-in-next-five-years-20220516-p5alp9.html
The other housing tax no one’s talking about this election By Elizabeth Redman May 16, 2022 https://www.smh.com.au/property/new...king-about-this-election-20220512-p5akrk.html Key points Experts say stamp duty reform would not only improve housing affordability over time and help grow the economy, it could also be an easier sell for any federal government than changing negative gearing. While stamp duty is a state government tax, federal counterparts could offer to pay the gap to states who drive reform and face a short-term budget shortfall, economists suggest. Stamp duty is levied on property transactions and can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of moving house or saving a deposit for a first home, whereas an annual land tax would allow taxpayers to spread their contributions over a longer period. With the pandemic property boom turning the Great Australian Dream into a nightmare for many aspiring buyers, housing affordability has been an issue in this election campaign. Labor announced its Help To Buy plan, the Coalition showcased a Home Guarantee Scheme plus access to up to $50,000 worth of super, and the Greens pledged that just one property could be negatively geared, a move they say would save the government $63 billion in a decade. Stamp duty reform could improve housing affordability over time.Crediteter Rae But experts say there’s another reform that could help: stamp duty. Scrapping this tax would not only improve housing affordability over time and help grow the economy, it could also be an easier sell for any federal government than changing negative gearing. While stamp duty is a state government tax, federal counterparts could offer to pay the gap to states who drive reform and face a short-term budget shortfall, economists suggest. Stamp duty is levied on property transactions and can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of moving house or saving a deposit for a first home, whereas an annual land tax would allow taxpayers to spread their contributions over a longer period. The ACT is halfway through a 20-year switch from stamp duty to land tax, and the NSW government has started a consultation on how it could scrap stamp duty, although Treasurer Matt Kean has called for federal support. The federal government’s recent housing inquiry also called for states to replace stamp duty with land tax. “Stamp duty is a really inefficient tax compared to land tax and so you don’t want people not moving to a more appropriate property because they’re going to have to pay a big stamp duty cheque,” Richard Holden, Professor of economics at UNSW Business School, said. “The obvious wrinkle is, a pretty big part of a state government budget is made up of stamp duty revenue. If you move to land tax over time, there’s an immediate budgetary hit.” Professor Holden said one solution could be for the federal government to provide slightly higher Commonwealth grants for a period of time to states who move away from state duty. He previously called for a scaling back of negative gearing tax breaks, which were taken up by federal Labor, rejected by voters at two elections, and then dumped by the party. Holden says stamp duty reform could be an easier sell to voters. “Stamp duty is not something that people like,” he said. “Yes, it is an easier sell than negative gearing, but it’s not totally uncomplicated, and if it was totally uncomplicated, it would have already happened in a state like NSW where both sides of politics are in favour of it.” Holden acknowledged the risk that allowing buyers to use the cash saved for their stamp duty to instead spend on housing could push up property prices, but still backed the reform, saying it would help first home buyers most because stamp duty is a bigger proportion of their savings than for other buyers. Grattan Institute economic policy program director Brendan Coates warned against getting caught up on the risk prices could move marginally higher in the short term, saying it was “short-sighted” thinking. Over the longer term, property prices could be as much as 4 per cent lower than they would otherwise be, he said, citing NSW Treasury modelling. “Stamp duty reform could give the economy a big kick, which it needs, while also making housing more affordable in the long run,” Coates said. Homeowners have to pay stamp duty each time they move.Credit:Wayne Taylor “The federal government should come to the party in helping to commit to fill part of the revenue hole. They should do that both in NSW and in any other state that is willing to make the transition to a land tax, because the federal government will collect most of the extra revenue when the economy grows after the reform.” For example, if a state planned a 10-year transition, the federal government should fill the revenue shortfall over that time, and this should be a standing offer to any state willing to embark on the reform, Coates suggested. Independent economist Saul Eslake took the view that stamp duty reform could be a hard sell because only a small proportion of people pay it in any given year, whereas a land tax would be a smaller amount of money but many taxpayers would pay it every year. He backed scrapping stamp duty and pointed to a Productivity Commission report from 2017 that recommended shifting from stamp duty to land tax, with provision for low-income households. He also highlighted a review by former Telstra boss David Thodey, who suggested it was not fair for people who move often to contribute more to public services. In any given year, only a small proportion of people buy a home.Crediteter Rae “One possible role for the federal government could be to offer states that are prepared to make the switch financial assistance to alleviate – either in whole or in part – the revenue hole,” the principal of Corinna Economic Advisory said. “The other thing is some states worry, if they were to make the switch, it would adversely affect their share of GST revenue … the [Commonwealth] Grants Commission would say, ‘you now have a stronger revenue base.’ “The other thing the federal government could potentially do is to provide some form of assurance that wouldn’t happen.” He said it would likely help first home owners over time by either marginally lowering land values or reducing the rate at which they rise. A spokesperson for Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said state and territory governments have primary responsibility for housing, including stamp duty and land tax. “Rising state taxes, increasing regulatory imposts and unresponsive planning rules, that have led to declining housing affordability. Any move to reduce these costs of homeownership would be welcomed,” the spokesperson said. “However, any tax reform must be funded through state budgets.” A Labor spokesperson said: “Stamp duty is a state government issue. “Through our National Housing Affordability and Supply Council and National Housing and Homelessness plan, an Albanese Labor government will look to work with all levels of government and other stakeholders to make it easier for more people to buy a home.”
House rents jump 20 per cent despite a rise in vacancies Nila Sweeney Reporter May 16, 2022 https://www.afr.com/property/reside...ent-despite-a-rise-in-vacancy-20220516-p5alno The squeeze on rental accommodation around the country eased slightly in April with vacancy rates rising 0.1 percentage points to 1.1 per cent in the first increase since the start of the year. But the improvement in vacancy rates has not made renting any easier for tenants, with asking rents nevertheless climbing higher as demand continues to outpace supply, data from SQM Research shows. Rental markets across the capitals remained tight despite a slight increase in vacancy rates. Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research, said more property owners were responding to thetight rental marketand leasing their properties once again after taking them off the market during COVID-19. Vacancy rates held steady at 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent inSydneyand Melbourne respectively, but they are still at their lowest levels in years. Meanwhile, Brisbane’s vacancy at 0.7 per cent was the lowest on record. Rental markets across Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin posted up to 0.2 percentage point increases in vacancy rates during the month, but most are still at their tightest levels in decades.......
Alan Joyce (CEO of Qantas) just bought a $19m Mosman mansion The 15-room residence is an impressive step up the Sydney property ladder from the Qantas boss’s eyrie in the Cove Apartments building at The Rocks. Lucy Macken May 16, 2022 – 7.06am Mosman’s trophy-home owners are set to welcome Qantas boss Alan Joyce and his husband, Shane Lloyd, to the well-heeled neighbourhood. The couple have bought a federation mansion in Mosman Bay for $19 million. The 15-room residence is an impressive step up the property ladder from their eyrie in the Harry Seidler-designed Cove Apartments building at The Rocks. The couple bought that in 2008 for $4.575 million. The 1908-built residence was redesigned by architect Paul Moon into a luxury three-level house. Their new home is a 1908-built residence redesigned in 2015 by US architect Paul Moon into a three-level home. It has six bedrooms, formal and informal living areas, a home cinema and wine cellar. Its parterre garden descends to a netted harbour pool, jetty and private berth. Qantas chief Alan Joyce and husband Shane Lloyd are swapping the high-rise life at The Rocks for Mosman’s waterfront. Steve Christo .............................. If Joyce were to sink all his money into a house, he would then still be eligible to claim a govenment pension on retirement from my understanding.
Analysis / Politics Female voters are queueing up to belt Scott Morrison, and it could get very ugly The prime minister is on the nose with women, and it's gone from bad to worse since the Brittany Higgins allegations came to light. Bernard Keane May 12, 2022 (Image: Private Media) One of the basics of election campaigns is image control: make sure that every night on the evening commercial news bulletins there are images of the leader doing something positive. There’s a longstanding belief that if you couple positive images with positive analysis and reportage, you’ll win the day. Win enough days, you win the campaign. And winning the campaign can be enough to overcome a polling gap that existed before the campaign started. Coalition’s gender problems come home to boost Labor and independents 2019 was a classic case, and showed Scott Morrison was a master of the technique. Now he’s pursuing the same strategy. Every day he’s making some minor announcement — often a new handout — and then being filmed in situ. The role of hi-vis vests and helmets in campaigns has long been mocked, but Morrison is undeterred, and happily cosplays for the cameras wherever he goes. Mock if you like, but it’s about the images, about the small number of disengaged and undecided/uninterested voters who pay no attention to politics but might catch a glimpse of a politician on the news. That glimpse, that brief moment, is the chance to convey a positive or negative image. But as colleague Cam Wilson has pointed out, it seems that the more Morrison gets about generating those images, the less voters like him. All polls show the Coalition’s vote, and Morrison’s net approval rating, falling during the campaign after a brief rise at the start following Albanese’s first-day gaffe. And female voters look to be deeply hostile to Morrison. As The Australian Financial Review’s Phil Coorey pointed out after the latest Ipsos poll, Morrison’s numbers among female voters are dire and not shifting. Labor’s primary vote lead among women is eight, compared with five among men. His net disapproval is 23 among women and 16 among men. Albanese’s lead as preferred prime minister is seven among women and he has led among women throughout the campaign. Men have tilted Albanese’s way only in the latest poll, 41-38. When did the collapse in female support for Morrison happen? Roy Morgan polling provides some clues. It tracks male and female two-party-preferred outcomes. Both male and female support for Labor pulled away dramatically from support for the Coalition in 2021 — but at different dates. Male support suddenly shifted in November-December, and began a steep trajectory of rising support for the ALP. That coincides with the period when the government’s failure to secure rapid antigen tests, and the inability of people to find any, was dominating the news. But women turned towards Labor much earlier in the Roy Morgan data: in February, when Brittany Higgins emerged to reveal her ordeal and treatment by the government. At that exact point, female voters — who were about evenly split on the parties over the pandemic — shifted to Labor, and it only got worse after that. Morrison’s comprehensive bungling of the Higgins matter — will we ever find out who in his office was briefing against her partner, or will that inquiry vanish with Phil Gaetjens? — and the astonishing failure of both he and Christian Porter to properly deal with historical allegations of rape made against the latter (which Porter denies) drove female voters en masse from the Coalition. The reemergence of the alleged disgusting treatment of Rachelle Miller during the campaign — with Morrison confirming the invisible Alan Tudge would return as education minister after the election despite an alleged huge payout to Miller — will only serve to reinforce the view that Morrison has a profoundly troubling view of women and their right to workplace safety. The gap in the Morgan poll is still stark despite some narrowing during the campaign: Labor leads by 16 points on a two-party-preferred basis among women, compared with just two points among men. The long campaign Morrison planned was designed to run down Labor’s lead so he could exploit his alleged campaigning genius. But he appears to have only confirmed to half the electorate what they worked out more than a year ago.
Analysis / Politics "I'm on the side of homeowners": Morrison Morrison ramps up class war with intergenerational wealth shift — yet pitches at first-time buyers The PM has used the Liberal campaign launch in Brisbane to promise the biggest wealth shift between generations in decades — with wealthy homeowning seniors winning big at the expense of the young. Bernard Keane May 15, 2022 https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/05/15/scott-morrison-liberal-housing-policy-class-warfare/ Scott Morrison at the Liberal Party campaign launch in Brisbane (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas) Scott Morrison has made senior homeowners the centre of the federal Liberal election launch, promising to allow homebuyers to raid their superannuation for home purchases and expanding access to superannuation tax concessions for wealthy seniors who sell their properties. In a recognition that purchasing housing had become more difficult, Morrison announced what he called a “comprehensive housing plan”. The changes to superannuation will allow more seniors to direct $300,000 from the sale of a family home into superannuation by dropping the age limit to 55. It will also allow seniors to hold proceeds from house sales for two years without it affecting their pension. Morrison has also adopted a policy — long pushed by enemies of superannuation within Liberal ranks — of allowing superannuation to be accessed to buy homes: first-home buyers will be able to raid their super balances by up to $50,000 or 40% of their account balance to buy homes. This will pump billions in superannuation into the housing market, significantly pushing home prices up. This means wealthy homeowning seniors will enjoy the benefit of higher home sales prices, and be able to access more favourable tax treatment of the proceeds. It would represent a major shift of wealth from the current generation of taxpayers and low-income earners to wealthy retirees, and see first-home buyers impoverishing their retirements in order to fund even wealthier retirements for senior homeowners. Morrison made the announcement as the centrepiece of a lengthy speech to the federal Liberal campaign launch in Brisbane. Unusually nervous in his address to a slow-to-warm audience, Morrison devoted much of his 50 minute address — he eventually apologised for its length, but said “I’m just getting warmed up” — to spruiking the government’s handling of the pandemic and the economy since 2020. Other than a cancer centre in Brisbane and a promise to build a new generation of drones (unmanned aerial vehicles have been the subject of persistent failures by Defence under the Coalition, as The Australian has repeatedly pointed out), the speech was light on new commitments. While consistent with the Liberals’ long-term hatred of superannuation and their search for anything that will undermine the relentless growth of industry super funds, the targeting of wealthy seniors suggests there is genuine alarm within Liberal ranks at the defection of traditional Liberal voters in well-off urban electorates. With rich older voters in more affluent parts of Sydney and Melbourne defecting to teal independents, clearly the Liberal operation believes it needs to appeal to their financial interests as much as possible to hang on to those seats. For young and low-income earners struggling to buy their own homes, however, the policy will present the illusion of greater affordability that will evaporate as a result of increased competition. As always in Australia, the real winners are homeowners.