ABC host gives Albo's finance boss reality check on housing market
Gallagher said the country had failed to build enough homes for decades. 'That is exactly the discussion that needs to be had around housing, and for us it is around the fact that we haven't built enough houses for decades in this country, and the fact we have to look at how we speed that up and how we offer a range of housing options for people,' she said. 'Whether that be from looking at how we deal with the supported housing sector or affordable housing, all the way to home ownership. We went to the election with policies around that. There is more work we have to do. It takes too long to build a house. That adds to the cost of housing. We have to make sure we are tackling these issues, otherwise these problems will continue.'
The issue will be central to Treasurer Jim Chalmers' economic roundtable in Canberra this week, where leaders are considering planning reforms and alternative housing options such as modular homes. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed homes in Sydney would be worth nearly double the national average house price, which has just passed $1million. The figure would equate to a $112,000 price hike, which is more than the average full-time worker's annual salary – $103,000 before tax. Melbourne prices are forecast to increase six per cent to $1.1 million after two years of market downturns.
Muval's Family Relocation Report, based on more than 41,000 family moves over six years, showed many are already leaving Sydney in search of affordability and space. 'Greater Sydney has experienced the highest loss of families, with a ratio of just 0.31, meaning that for every family that moved in, more than three have moved out,' the report stated. 'This may reflect the city's soaring cost of living, rising property prices, and a growing desire among families for more space and less congestion.'
Melbourne's inner suburbs, the ACT, and Sydney's east, west and Parramatta regions have also seen more families leaving than arriving. 'Meanwhile, affordability pressures are driving major shifts in ownership: nearly 17 per cent of families are going from owner-occupier to renter, while just 6.3 per cent are moving in the opposite direction, a stark reminder of how tough home ownership is becoming for many,' the report stated.
Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania all experienced positive arrival ratios. Last week, a leaked Treasury document revealed proposals to cut approval delays, including a national artificial intelligence plan to streamline environmental assessments. More than 30,000 housing approvals are currently tied up under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The Housing Industry Association has urged the federal government to act quickly. Its submission warned taxes and charges on a standard Sydney house and land package can exceed $500,000. 'Without urgent action to lift home building activity, productivity and investment, Australia's housing crisis will only deepen,' HIA Managing Director, Jocelyn Martin said.
'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 homes.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
ABC host gives Albo's finance boss reality check on housing market
An ABC host put the finance minister on the spot after questioning how Australians could ever have hope of owning a home as prices drastically outpace wages. ABC News Breakfast presenter James Glenday (pictured left) grilled Katy Gallagher (pictured right) on Monday over projections the median price for a house would soon rise by seven per cent. Gallagher said the country had failed to build enough homes for decades. 'That is exactly the discussion that needs to be had around housing, and for us it is around the fact that we haven't built enough houses for decades in this country, and the fact we have to look at how we speed that up and how we offer a range of housing options for people,' she said. 'Whether that be from looking at how we deal with the supported housing sector or affordable housing, all the way to home ownership. We went to the election with policies around that. There is more work we have to do. It takes too long to build a house. That adds to the cost of housing. We have to make sure we are tackling these issues, otherwise these problems will continue.' The issue will be central to Treasurer Jim Chalmers' economic roundtable in Canberra this week, where leaders are considering planning reforms and alternative housing options such as modular homes. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed homes in Sydney would be worth nearly double the national average house price, which has just passed $1million. The figure would equate to a $112,000 price hike, which is more than the average full-time worker's annual salary – $103,000 before tax. Melbourne prices are forecast to increase six per cent to $1.1 million after two years of market downturns. Muval's Family Relocation Report, based on more than 41,000 family moves over six years, showed many are already leaving Sydney in search of affordability and space. 'Greater Sydney has experienced the highest loss of families, with a ratio of just 0.31, meaning that for every family that moved in, more than three have moved out,' the report stated. 'This may reflect the city's soaring cost of living, rising property prices, and a growing desire among families for more space and less congestion.' Melbourne's inner suburbs, the ACT, and Sydney's east, west and Parramatta regions have also seen more families leaving than arriving. 'Meanwhile, affordability pressures are driving major shifts in ownership: nearly 17 per cent of families are going from owner-occupier to renter, while just 6.3 per cent are moving in the opposite direction, a stark reminder of how tough home ownership is becoming for many,' the report stated. Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania all experienced positive arrival ratios. Last week, a leaked Treasury document revealed proposals to cut approval delays, including a national artificial intelligence plan to streamline environmental assessments. More than 30,000 housing approvals are currently tied up under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Housing Industry Association has urged the federal government to act quickly. Its submission warned taxes and charges on a standard Sydney house and land package can exceed $500,000. 'Without urgent action to lift home building activity, productivity and investment, Australia's housing crisis will only deepen,' HIA Managing Director, Jocelyn Martin said. '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 homes.'
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese's handpicked economic adviser issues an urgent message to Australia about working from home
Anthony Albanese 's productivity adviser has suggested too much working from home is bad for the economy. Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, who Labor appointed for a five-year term in 2023, said fully remote work was having a bad effect on economic output for every worker. 'Maybe fully remote work might have some drag on productivity,' she told the National Press Club on Monday. 'You miss out on those gains you get from being face-to-face in the office, training and spillovers. 'Hybrid work two or three days a week in the office, two or three days at home seems to not have a negative impact – in fact it might be slightly positive and it introduces great benefits for workers avoiding the commute, much greater flexibility to manage family and life. 'I've described that as a sweet spot for productivity. The market has naturally found that sweet spot.' Ms Wood said Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan's plan to legislate the right to work from work two days a week therefore was unnecessary. 'The market does have a way of finding that sweet spot so if I was to apply a growth mindset to this, I would think, "What's the problem we're trying to solve here?" It's not clear to me there needs to be a role for government in that,' she said. Ms Wood argued that employers who required all staff to work in the office full-time would struggle to retain employees. 'I speak to employers who say, "I want everyone back full time" and I say, "Yep, you can do that but you will struggle to attract and retain staff." 'You have to pay a wage premium.' Victoria's Labor government has this month announced a plan to enshrine the right to work from home if someone could 'reasonably' WFH in both public and private sector roles. More than a third or 36 per cent of Australians worked from home last year, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed. WFH became mainstream in 2020 during Covid lockdowns. 'It has been a very substantial shift that we've seen in the post-Covid world,' Ms Wood said. The issue has become so politically charged that former Opposition leader Peter Dutton had to dump an election campaign policy of making Canberra-based public servants return to the office. Victoria's Labor government last week announced a plan to enshrine the right to work from home if someone could 'reasonably' WFH in both public and private sector roles (pictured is Premier Jactina Allan addressing the Labor State Conference in Melbourne) But in a sign of her political independence, Ms Wood also used her National Press Club address on productivity to call on the government to revisit tax breaks for drivers of electric cars. 'It means winding back duplicative and high-cost policies like such as fringe benefit tax concessions for electric vehicles,' she said. During its last term, Labor removed the requirement for employers to pay a fringe benefits tax if they provide an EV to a staff member under the $91,387 luxury car tax threshold for fuel efficient vehicles. Ms Wood is a key participant at this week's Economic Reform Roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra with business and union leaders.
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Wild moment ABC host gives Albo's finance boss a brutal reality check about the dire state of Australia's housing market
An ABC host put the finance minister on the spot after questioning how Australians could ever have hope of owning a home as prices drastically outpace wages. ABC News Breakfast presenter James Glenday grilled Katy Gallagher on Monday over projections the median price for a house would soon rise by seven per cent. 'By mid-next year, the median house price in Sydney, according to forecasts, is expected to hit $1.8 million,' he said. 'The median full-time worker earns about $90,000. 'How can people under the age of 40 get excited about productivity and making the economy efficient when they can't afford to buy a home?' Gallagher said the country had failed to build enough homes for decades. 'That is exactly the discussion that needs to be had around housing, and for us it is around the fact that we haven't built enough houses for decades in this country, and the fact we have to look at how we speed that up and how we offer a range of housing options for people,' she said. 'Whether that be from looking at how we deal with the supported housing sector or affordable housing, all the way to home ownership. 'We went to the election with policies around that. There is more work we have to do. It takes too long to build a house. That adds to the cost of housing. We have to make sure we are tackling these issues, otherwise these problems will continue.' The issue will be central to Treasurer Jim Chalmers ' economic roundtable in Canberra this week, where leaders are considering planning reforms and alternative housing options such as modular homes. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed homes in Sydney would be worth nearly double the national average house price, which has just passed $1million. The figure would equate to a $112,000 price hike, which is more than the average full-time worker's annual salary – $103,000 before tax. Melbourne prices are forecast to increase six per cent to $1.1 million after two years of market downturns. Muval's Family Relocation Report, based on more than 41,000 family moves over six years, showed many are already leaving Sydney in search of affordability and space. 'Greater Sydney has experienced the highest loss of families, with a ratio of just 0.31, meaning that for every family that moved in, more than three have moved out,' the report stated. 'This may reflect the city's soaring cost of living, rising property prices, and a growing desire among families for more space and less congestion.' It comes as data suggests many Aussies are ditching the most expensive cities for more affordable parts of the nation (above, western Sydney, which families are leaving in droves, according to Muval) Melbourne's inner suburbs, the ACT, and Sydney's east, west and Parramatta regions have also seen more families leaving than arriving. 'Meanwhile, affordability pressures are driving major shifts in ownership: nearly 17 per cent of families are going from owner-occupier to renter, while just 6.3 per cent are moving in the opposite direction, a stark reminder of how tough home ownership is becoming for many,' the report stated. Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania all experienced positive arrival ratios. Last week, a leaked Treasury document revealed proposals to cut approval delays, including a national artificial intelligence plan to streamline environmental assessments. More than 30,000 housing approvals are currently tied up under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Housing Industry Association has urged the federal government to act quickly. Its submission warned taxes and charges on a standard Sydney house and land package can exceed $500,000. 'Without urgent action to lift home building activity, productivity and investment, Australia's housing crisis will only deepen,' HIA Managing Director, Jocelyn Martin said. '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 homes.'
