Industry calls for action on supply barriers and housing taxes
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has urged treasurer Jim Chalmers to make housing a central focus at the upcoming Economic Reform Roundtable, highlighting concerns about the ongoing national housing shortage.
“Without urgent action to lift home building activity, productivity and investment, Australia’s housing crisis will only deepen,” said Jocelyn Martin (pictured), HIA managing director. “The treasurer’s roundtable presents a critical opportunity to address the barriers that are holding back new housing supply. You cannot talk about productivity, economic growth or improving living standards without discussing housing.
“Red tape, regulation and delay are adding enormous costs to the delivery of new homes. If we want to see real reform, we need to boost productivity in our industry, cut the burden of unnecessary building and planning rules, and start making it easier to build the homes.”
The industry body made a submission to Treasury, that highlights the taxes and charges on a typical house and land package in Sydney can now exceed $500,000, costs that are ultimately paid by new home buyers and locked into mortgages for decades.
“We’re calling on all level of governments to stop taxing new homes like they’re a luxury item,” Martin said. “Apart from alcohol and cigarettes, there’s no other sector more heavily taxed than housing.”
The association’s submission to Treasury outlines several areas for reform, including addressing skill shortages, reducing regulatory obstacles, and simplifying planning systems. HIA also called for changes to the National Construction Code and measures to encourage investment in multi-residential housing.
According to the Property Council, Australia is falling short of the National Housing Accord’s target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029. Although housing starts increased by 14% to 47,645, this remains below the quarterly target of over 60,000 needed to meet the Accord’s goal.
“We need real support to address the skill shortages that are making it impossible to meet the 1.2 million homes target,” Martin said. “We need to remove the regulatory roadblocks that are holding back innovation and prefabrication.
“With housing approvals lagging and construction starts falling well below what is needed to meet demand, the case for urgent reform has never been stronger.
“Both sides of parliament have acknowledged how hard it has become to build a house in this country. The treasurer now can turn that message into action.”
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