The most alarming factor in the Federal Election campaign is the absence of policies to deal with the housing market’s biggest issue, the shortage of rental properties. Indeed, none of the major parties have any policies that suggest they understand housing market problems and how to deal with them.
Both Labor and the Liberals have policies to make it easier for first-home buyers to get a loan but they have not presented ideas to deal with the high cost of creating new homes. Neither show any sign of even being aware that Australia has the greatest ever shortage of rental properties, so there are no policies to increase the supply of homes for tenants.
The Greens’ real estate policies indicate that they see property investment as a criminal activity which should be stamped out. Their ideas, if they ever became law, would make the rental shortage immeasurably worse.
It’s counter-intuitive for politicians, especially left-leaning ones, but the only way to address the rental shortage crisis is to introduce measures that encourage investors to buy homes and make them available for rental.
