The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released its Federal pre-budget submission, which set out a range of funding and policy commitments aimed at improving housing supply and affordability.
The Association believes that while one million homes in the pipeline over the next five years will address supply levels, the new homes will not address long-term undersupply.
“Maintaining a healthy supply of new housing in Australia is key to helping solve the affordability problem,” says HIA Deputy Managing Director – Policy & Industry, Jocelyn Martin.
The HIA has called upon the government to solve issues around land supply, migration, skills and taxes that will help solve supply issues long term.
“Land supply is fundamental to ensuring consistent housing supply and land supply data is crucial to a national knowledge base and to future national policy initiatives. A national data bank to keep track of this information would help substantially,” Martin continues.
THe HIA has recommended that a skills-centric immigration policy be introduced by the Federal Government, in an effort to increase the amount of tradespeople available for construction projects as part of an overall population policy.
“The Government should consult with industry to develop a visa that will enable the residential building industry to alleviate trade shortages through skilled migration,” Martin says.
“But migration is not the sole answer to the skills shortage, migration policies should also be complemented with schemes that focus on attracting and retaining apprentices. Highlighting career opportunities though trades and mentoring programs are needed.
Martin says another recommendation made by the Association is to remove stamp duty, which has been floated by a number of state governments.
“Lastly, excessive tax on housing still hinders growth in the market and housing affordability. Taxes such as stamp duty tax are a huge barrier for first homebuyers, and HIA notes, some state governments are preparing to transition away from stamp duty tax.
“HIA would like the Federal government to take a leadership role, working with the state and territory governments, to establish a dialogue through the National Cabinet to investigate measures that would support state and territory governments to remove stamp duty.
“Supply of new housing is crucial not only in ensuring that Australians can have an opportunity to buy or rent an affordable home, but also so that Australia’s economy can grow and prosper.”
To read the submission, click here.
