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Dick Smith says immigrants and tax breaks to blame for housing crisis; Australia currently has a record immigration intake program of around 200,000 people annually
Topic Started: 15 Aug 2017, 09:42 AM (911 Views)
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Dick Smith blames his generation for housing crisis, calls for reduced immigration in new book

August 10, 2017 11:27am

MILLIONAIRE businessman Dick Smith has taken aim at his own generation, saying its greed has crippled young people’s ability to own their first home.

He launched a scathing attack on Australia’s politicians, accusing them of being too scared to make tax changes that would be unpopular with the generation already on the “homeownership gravy train”.

“These people may be aware that the system that has skewed the game so heavily in their favour is locking the next generation out,” he wrote in Dick Smith Fair Go released this week.

“But, along with property developers, they want to hold on to their investment properties and milk younger Australians for all they’re worth.”

The former Australian of the Year’s manifesto calls on the Federal Government to reduce immigration and make changes to tax breaks such as negative gearing and capital gains laws.

He also argued for a land tax to replace stamp duty so that people with multiple houses pay a percentage of their land’s worth annually to even out the playing field.

In the book, Mr Smith points out that older Australians who had benefited from tax exemptions, made up 68 per cent of the electorate so politicians were unwilling to change tax laws.

“Why would a turkey vote for an early Christmas?” he wrote, citing that investment properties had risen on average about 70 per cent since 2012.

It follows the former retailer’s public support of controversial One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson last year, in which he described her zero-net immigration policy as “spot on”.

Zero net immigration means Australia takes in only the same amount of immigrants that leave.

Yesterday, the 73-year-old from Terrey Hills highlighted population growth as the single biggest issue impacting housing affordability.

“Every Australian family has a population policy, they don’t have 20 kids, they have the number of children they can give a good life to,” he told the Manly Daily.

“But our politicians have no equivalent plan — you must have an appropriate plan. We need to bring immigration down to the long-term average which it was at in Paul Keating’s time as prime minister — about 70,000 people a year.”

He argues most of the — roughly 4000 — immigrants coming to Australia per week, were picked for high-level skills meaning they could immediately compete with Australian first-home buyers, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Read more: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/manly-daily/dick-smith-blames-his-generation-for-housing-crisis-calls-for-population-control-in-new-book/news-story/ce7a2583aad1bd071d156cfe15771fa4
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The hidden cause to Australia’s housing affordability problem

In today’s FHBA Market Update we take a look at how Australia’s immigration program impacts housing affordability, why 1 in 3 people are ‘giving up’ on owning property, how first home buyers are slightly pushing back, our latest favourite properties for first home buyers, the latest property prices, weekend auction clearance rates around the country and how you can get the First Home Owners Grant on properties that are already built.

What do you think of when we ask “what are the causes of housing affordability in Australia”?

Take a second to think about your answer.

If you came up with any of the following (or something similar) you are not alone with your thoughts: negative gearing (& generous tax incentives for investors), too many investors, baby boomers sitting pretty on top, not enough affordable housing being built, not enough help with the deposit, etc.

Now these causes are not only commonly debated, they are all indeed contributing factors to the housing affordability problem. But there is an additional major cause that does not get much attention in the news and that is Australia’s immigration policy.

Australia currently has a record immigration intake program of around 200,000 people annually. This policy is causing our population to grow faster, thereby increasing demand for housing and putting upward pressure on property prices.

So why isn’t this being discussed in Parliament, or in realestate.com.au or Domain? Well you see, a growing population is in the interest of our politicians (both major parties) and media companies. Bringing more people into the country results in more capital flowing into Australia, increases headline economic growth figures and increases government tax revenue. And if there are more people, naturally media websites will do better thanks to more readers.

We don’t want to make it sound like we are anti-immigration or a growing Australia. But we do believe that it is important for young Australians and aspiring first home buyers to know that this a contributing factor to aspiring first home buyers being priced out of the market.

For a nice summary on how Australia’s immigration policy impacts housing affordability and why it is not debated very much in mainstream media watch this recent video from Dick Smith on his Dick Smith Fair Go website – make sure you watch it to the end!

Read more: https://fhba.com.au/the-hidden-cause-to-australias-housing-affordability-problem/
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herbie
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If anyone genuinely wanted to chat about the causes (supposedly hidden or otherwise) of housing unaffordability in Sydney and Melbourne (as opposed to 'Australia') they could add the following to the list as well:

* Low interest rates,

* The fact that the obviously inherent volatility of 'alternative investments' (and by that I'm personally specifically thinking stocks) pushes many who'd prefer to not take on the potential negatives of being landlords to do so anyway, and

* The fact that just so many Australians (by choice or necessity?) seem to insist on jambing themselves into just two of our cities.
A Professional Demographer to an amateur demographer: "negative natural increase will never outweigh the positive net migration"
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Ex BP Golly
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Dick's video https://vimeo.com/229528216
Edited by Ex BP Golly, 15 Aug 2017, 12:30 PM.
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herbie
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Ex BP Golly
15 Aug 2017, 12:27 PM
Well Dick says "Australia can lead the way" Golly.

But I'm not at all sure why what would seem to me, to be one of the most resource rich, genuinely inhabitable and at least comparatively under-populated nations/continents on Earth would want to 'lead the way"?

What's in it for Australia? Or the world generally for that matter?

Hmmm - When it comes right down to it, I'd personally suggest that Australia is probably about as inappropriate a nation on the planet to be 'leading the way' in some bold global push (?) for ZPG (Zero Population Growth) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_population_growth

Tho I've got NO issues with anyone suggesting that it might be a very good idea for the nation in general (and Sydney/Melbourne IN PARTICULAR) to come up with some strategies for managing growth very much rather better.
Edited by herbie, 15 Aug 2017, 02:18 PM.
A Professional Demographer to an amateur demographer: "negative natural increase will never outweigh the positive net migration"
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