Page 3159 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 9 November 2021
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I do not think Emma Campbell from ACTCOSS played a role in drafting the amendment to this motion.
So Ms Berry is not a fan of those pesky community housing providers, because she would much rather have it all under the control of the government. The government can do it. When it comes to Labor’s push to help Canberrans own a home, the last of the true believers—and yes, I am going to mention his name again—was Jon Stanhope. Our good friend, Mr Stanhope, said in the City News—what a great publication!—earlier in the year:
Without doubt, the law of supply and demand is the most brutal and predictable law in existence. If demand exceeds supply the price will rise just as day follows night.
He talked about the radical change in planning, whereby 70 per cent of new dwellings must be urban infill, and he said that this change was “guaranteed to produce the outcome that we are now seeing”:
Namely, the locking out of thousands of low and moderate income Canberra households from the detached housing market.
That statement is not coming from Andrew Bolt or from Barnaby Joyce; it is coming from Jon Stanhope. The prospect of owning their own home, especially for first home buyers, is becoming less and less a reality with the current purchase prices and the land availability. This can be demonstrated in the recent land release of 15 RZ1 blocks in Taylor, as well as some other blocks in some other zones, with more than 7,000 applications for the 115 blocks. We would point also to the 600-metre-square block with nothing on it selling for over a million dollars in Coombs.
I laughed out loud at recent estimates hearings when both Mr Gentleman and Ms Berry assured us that they were all about providing more housing choices for Canberrans. The mention of providing options for everyone, and that everyone can achieve their dream, is just not the truth. In the current climate, many first home buyers, many families needing to upgrade and even many downsizers are struggling to purchase homes, townhouses or units. With consistent growth, purchase prices this year have risen almost 11 times faster than wages growth over the past year. I think everyone would agree that it creates a significant barrier to entry for those who do not yet own a home.
That is certainly what CoreLogic’s research director said. CoreLogic’s research director went on to say, “It is likely the ongoing shortage of properties available to purchase is central to the upwards pressure on housing values. This makes Canberra’s property market a standout compared to other capital cities.” With the current average income and median house prices, it would take nearly 14 years’ worth of gross income to buy a house compared to four years that it took ten years ago. That is astonishing, isn’t it?
The University of Canberra’s associate professor for social and economic modelling comments that if a young person can borrow somewhere other than a bank, such as
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