ABC get Catherine's comments on Australia's housing policies..
17/09/2017
"You can't blame the investors, you can't blame the developers, they're doing what they are dictated to do by the tax system and by government policy."
(Quite a good synopsis of the views and issues - read the full article here)
Excerpt:
With Melbourne's median house price at more than $800,000, buyers' advocate Catherine Cashmore warns affordable housing policies are only tinkering around the edges of a much bigger problem.
The latest analysis by her organisation, Prosper Australia, shows the seven largest developers on the Australian stock exchange hold 15 years' worth of land supply - which they are drip-feeding onto the market to keep prices high.
She has reiterated her call for a major shake-up of the taxation system to remove the generous incentives for investing in housing.
"We breastfed a nation on the notion that the way you grow wealthy is to invest in land and to sit on it and allow the price to go upwards, that does nothing for housing affordability," Ms Cashmore said.
She argues an annual land tax in lieu of other taxes, would discourage investors from hoarding land or keeping properties vacant.
"You can't blame the investors, you can't blame the developers, they're doing what they are dictated to do by the tax system and by government policy."
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