A new generation, Gen X, has taken over as Australia’s richest property owners, thanks to boomers downsizing and ‘passing on the baton’. Meanwhile, house prices in all capital cities, apart from Canberra, are now at their highest-ever levels according to new data, with six capitals now in the ‘million-dollar club’.
The Greens say this is yet further proof of a housing crisis that’s spiralling out of control. Labor must wind back tax breaks for property investors, or younger first home buyers will continue to be locked out as housing inequality worsens.
Australian Greens spokesperson for finance, housing and homelessness Senator Barbara Pocock:
“We don’t have a functioning housing system in Australia; we have a generational lottery, where young people are faced with a lifetime of renting, precarious leases, and a housing market rigged against them. Housing should not be an intergenerational tug-of-war.
“Australia’s housing system is rigged for the wealthy; it’s a system designed to drive up the cost of housing, generating enormous wealth for the few while increasing rents for the many who haven’t won the generational lottery. Instead of everyone having a roof over their head, houses have become an investment asset class – which fuels intergenerational inequality.
“Massive tax breaks for wealthy property investors are cooking our housing system. Negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts let cashed-up investors outbid everyday Australians — and young people, single people, low income workers are the ones paying the price.
“This is why the Greens have secured a Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequality. The Greens’ inquiry will interrogate the full scope of Australia’s intergenerational housing inequality, including the $181b tax breaks for wealthy investors that are locking out first home buyers, as well as the political barriers to reform.
“We know tax breaks for wealthy property investors are a key driver of the housing crisis and intergenerational inequality but Labor refuses to act. This government has an opportunity to fix the housing crisis — but if they keep dodging real reform, they’ll lock a whole generation out of ever owning a home.”