The Housing Industry Association , the voice of Australia’s residential
building industry reports that current demand for new dwellings still exceeds
home building activity. According to the latest HIA National Outlook, new
housing construction is at record levels, yet cost barriers are shutting home
buyers out of the market.
According to HIA Chief Economist, Dr Harley Dale, the HIA Autumn 2015
National Outlook indicates that new housing construction, which is at record
levels, is single-handedly propping up Australia’s domestic economy. However, despite
record new housing supply, many Australians are being priced out of the market
due to the excessive and inefficient taxation and regulations imposed by governments
on the new housing sector.
Harley Dale explains that super low interest rates are doing the job but
need to be complemented by policy reform. He noted that the detached house
construction cycle had peaked well below its potential because households can’t
pay the cost of waiting up to 14 months for titled land, or multiple months for
a simple building approval, or borrow the additional amount required to cover
government-imposed gold-plating of user pays infrastructure.
He concludes that the Government’s lack of focus on housing policy
reform is shutting Australians out of their new home at a time when they could
borrow responsibly at attractive interest rates and be part of the great
Australian dream.
