tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post8211386680904334558..comments2022-10-08T17:04:16.269+11:00Comments on Housing Affordability, The Great Real Estate Rip-Off, and Entrenched Government Failures: Policy suggestions for more affordable housingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-64539686539330014642008-07-15T08:26:00.000+10:002008-07-15T08:26:00.000+10:00Good work SeanI like your recommendations. The rec...Good work Sean<BR/><BR/>I like your recommendations. The recent (June 2008) Senate report Housing Affordability had a similar listing, very comprehensive and fair.<BR/><BR/>http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/hsaf_ctte/report/b02.htm<BR/><BR/>The govt has to get over itself and stop being the Nanny State for investors. I have written an open letter you can include as a link if you like or take on board the argument in the letter. <BR/><BR/>Basically:<BR/>Investors can claim a tax deduction on Loan Interest generated by property debt. <BR/>FHO / HO cannot claim Loan Interest deduction on residential property. <BR/>Investors have tax advantage in common market of residential property purchase. <BR/>Until this anti-competitive tax ruling is addressed unfair advantage will continue. <BR/>Responsibility rests with Treasury to correct the situation. <BR/>Allowing investors, but not FHO or Home Owners, to claim Loan Interest deduction is<BR/>INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION against FHO and Home Owners. <BR/> <BR/>Link to letter is:<BR/>http://firsthomeowner2008.googlepages.com/openlettertreasury2008 <BR/><BR/>thanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-18922453602954046702008-06-25T01:03:00.000+10:002008-06-25T01:03:00.000+10:00Yes, it's quite possible there will be a house pri...Yes, it's quite possible there will be a house price crash that will bring prices back to the long term mean, and in line with CPI/inflation.<BR/><BR/>However, the boom/bust cycle did a lot of damage on the way up, and it will do a lot of damage on the way down.<BR/><BR/>Politicians have done almost nothing to shield the populace from the rollercoaster ride of free market capitalism and lending.<BR/><BR/>Even if prices correct, the conventional housing market excludes a lot of people from the social security of affordable ownership. I think politicians should still be constructing much more 'social housing' rather than begrudging 'residualised' public housing. If more people had a chance to get on to the property ladder, you might see more participation in the active economy rather than languishing on benefits in low cost public housing, where they don't want to earn so much they get moved on. Governments are letting everyone down in the housing arena these days, having thrown all notions of assisting people into housing to the winds of the free market years ago.Housing Affordabilityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091467840417793857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-51859436744530585312008-06-05T14:00:00.000+10:002008-06-05T14:00:00.000+10:00What makes you think that we will not have a prope...What makes you think that we will not have a property price crash like in the USA and Europe? That ought to fix the affordability problem.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06340403723350864929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-25890055053649206002008-04-21T13:35:00.000+10:002008-04-21T13:35:00.000+10:00Sean,I think THE reason we have an issue with hous...Sean,<BR/><BR/>I think THE reason we have an issue with housing is because of the government involvment and meddling. We have the worst of both worlds with heavy govt involvement, and people rationally responding to it as in a free market. <BR/><BR/>The zoning restrictions, interference through taxation laws are all part of a massive market fiddle, and presto, we have a "crisis" which we should fix with more regulation????<BR/><BR/>We do not have a free market in housing. <BR/><BR/>Create one by removing taxation concessions associated with housing, by letting people build (I have a friend who has just spent three years trying to get a development through a local council by building 5 townhouses on 2000m^2 land in northern Sydney, only to have the council prevaricate and delay the whole process, then to finally approving the project (unchanged from the previous applications). He shows such restraint after this belligerence) subject to meeting building codes and I am pretty confident the problem will resolve itself and housing will become affordable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-21633103887154105852008-01-03T17:51:00.000+11:002008-01-03T17:51:00.000+11:00I think housing needs to be more affordable becaus...I think housing needs to be more affordable because there is no need for it to be so expensive and cause so much stress to so many.<BR/><BR/>I don't trust free markets to 'do the right thing' at all, they need constant monitoring and regulation, otherwise it's just 'winner take all'.<BR/><BR/>Food and education are still affordable. In Australia, I oppose even the HECS charge, especially given the $110 bn government surplus.<BR/><BR/>It's a reality that the 'conventional housing market' is riven with examples of failure and inequity, the present housing boom being just another one.<BR/><BR/>You could of course write whole books on failures of the market, the discourse or ideology of the 'free market' etc. Analysts of course know there is generally no such thing as an unregulated ' free' market or economy, it's just a convenient discourse for neo-classical economists. (For instance, try building a factory on your suburban quarter acre block, making significant changes to your property, or making building changes without complying with a host of building codes. All these things are regulated by 'govt planning committees' also but no-one is complaining much, as they provide protections.)Housing Affordabilityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091467840417793857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-51593724236740541952007-12-29T16:23:00.000+11:002007-12-29T16:23:00.000+11:00Why do you think housing need to be more affordabl...Why do you think housing need to be more affordable? Why not food or education? Wouldn't you be better off leaving it to the free economy to do it for us or you think government planning committees can do the job better?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16601705.post-31389964796782300122007-12-29T16:18:00.000+11:002007-12-29T16:18:00.000+11:00Why would you like to make housing affordable? Isn...Why would you like to make housing affordable? Isn't it a task of free economy to adjust these kind of things?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com