The question of whether Australia is suffering a housing shortage continues to be hotly disputed.
Housing supply
Another day, another set of disastrous building figures
Housing commencements are now in freefall, with long-term consequences for our housing supply.
Joye: the great Australian rental inflation
There is a lot of talk about house prices in Australia. We hear much less about rental costs, writes Christopher Joye of Property Observer.
Rental property shortage? What rental property shortage?
The recent boom has led to a building binge, with more than 30,000 dwellings under construction in Melbourne.
Carbon tax to add $6000 to cost of new house/land
It’s inevitable that because of the carbon tax the cost of building will increase, and as a consequence, be passed onto the purchaser, writes property adviser Catherine Cashmore.
Yes Labor, this is as good as it gets
Limping along clumsily trying to prosecute worthwhile reforms is about as good as it will get for Gillard Labor.
An economic recovery not led by housing
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for dwelling unit commencements give a seasonally adjusted estimate falling 5.3% in the December quarter which follows a fall of 13.0% in the September quarter.
Popular spending policies not necessarily a good thing
The problem with having popularly elected politicians determining economic policy is that, in economic terms, they generally do a pretty bad job of it.
Crikey Says: Population growth — it’s time we talked about it
Australia’s population is growing at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Is growth a dirty word?
Housing — the real arena for federal takeover
While health gets all the attention, housing policy is a critical Commonwealth-state issue that we must get right in the face of a growing population.
No new supply in either housing policy
Both Labor and the Coalition have now committed to setting up special low-tax savings accounts for Australians to buy their first home. Anna Tweeddale and Ben Eltham argue they may actually make housing affordability worse.
