- As much as news.com.au readers love the 'robin hood' mentality of scrapping negative gearing, it will not happen, for a variety of reasons. Bottom line: I think it would be political suicide.
- The government is crippled by short term focus due to short terms... can't do anything about that.
- The main concern of government is keeping prices stable to positive. Australia, out of all countries, has the greatest affinity with housing. If prices fall, confidence will plummet and turmoil will follow. As evidenced in the midst of the GFC, the government was willing to do anything to see house prices remain positive.
- Housing affordability is a great political rally cry, but the Government is doing precious little to help it. Giving money out? Give me a break!What a flawed policy.
Releasing land in the outer-outer suburbs, where infrastructure is limited, is flawed (adding additional stress to infrastructure, long commute times etc) and it progresses at a snail pace when it does.
I think the government and the population needs to invest in regional areas. From the view of an expat Victorian, consider that avg prices in Melbourne are $500k+ whereas a perfectly good house can be gotten in any regional centre for sub $200k - combine this with a lower cost of living and mortgage stress is a thing of the past. Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Shepp, Gippsland... more public service jobs need to be moved to these regions, incentives such as tax credits need to be given to encourage investment in regional centres and people need to realize that they don't necessarily need to live within a 1.5hr radius of the CBD in the outer-outer suburbs with the resultant stress and cost that it brings.
It makes me shudder every time the front page runs a "Melbourne to be bigger than Sydney by 2025!" article... we need to get over the bigger is better mentality and recognize the potential at our doorsteps.
