Property Investor Lending has reached a 6-Year high of total home lending, far outpacing that which goes to First Home Buyers.
In NSW, investor lending now makes up more than 40% of all housing finance, while FIRST HOME BUYERS are about 16% … that’s crook!
FROM COMMENTATORS THAT MAKE SENSE
MESSAGE FOR THE NSW PREMIER …
IT WOULD APPEAR from SMH Reader responses that despite all our States and Territories apart from Tasmania having Labor Governments … that now is not the time to benefit those lobbying to overdevelop our SYDNEY TOWN!
-ON HIGH IMMIGRATION … POPULATION GROWTH … FOREIGN INVESTMENT … TAX BENEFITS … THE ROLE OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS THAT PRICED OUT AUSSIES FROM OWNING A HOME
nkelly:
Cull the idiotic Howard era CGT discounts and get investors right out of real estate.
A treasury boffin has just said that supply and demand is a problem.
Hello! Get investors out and demand drops.
Not only is there a housing crisis because we have investors getting tax breaks competing with people looking for a home, but the price of commercial real estate is now a colossal brake on business!
Only a mega business can make the numbers work with finance.
It is killing the country.
Phil J:
Cut back immigration till the people who already live here can get a roof over their heads.
RM:
I’m astonished at the enthusiasm this masthead is showing for an initiative so unpopular with the vast bulk of its readers
High-rise developments are already making Sydney a less attractive place to live. Those making money from them can’t believe their luck. The rest of us are left to wonder why the real solutions to the housing affordability problem are not being addressed.
Here they are again, in case you’ve forgotten them: Excessive immigration, foreign investment, negative gearing, lack of transparency by real estate agents.
seen it coming:
Vested interests are not interested in housing affordability or availability at all.
Paracelsus:
An ever growing population is madness. Zero population growth is the way to go for a sustainable environment and liveable society.
Elise:
If we are going to play “we wouldn’t have a problem if …” games (in this case, buildings were taller), then here is my preferred analysis:
Our population growth rate was 1.4% per annum over the last decade (ABS).
If we had capped it at (a still high by first world standards) 1% per annum then our population would be 1 million people lower. 1 MILLION.
GOODBYE Housing Crisis!
-DEVE-LOPERS
Wobbegong:
Allow free standing homes to be turned into semis with council notification and no need for approval. That would help and cut out the NIMBYs.
CAAN: Seems like a comment that one would associate with a Great White or Grey Nurse shark not a mere Wobbegong!
What about community rights?
AND Wobbegong suggests deve-lopers merely notify councils with no need for approval. Is that so the home owner has ‘no come back’? Stuck with the shoddy work … Karma can’t come soon enough, can it?
It appears that this sector has become a Law unto Itself bulldozing our communities to turn our beautiful Sydney into a slumland …
MiG:
A famous person once said:
‘For every complex problem there is a simple and elegant answer, and it is invariably wrong. So it is with building hi-rise dog boxes to solve Sydney’s “housing crisis.” ‘
All it will do is enrich developers as they cherry-pick the obvious, like water views in Balmain
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot:
The government’s plan will deliver more housing, but very little of it will be affordable. What it will absolutely deliver is even more mega profits to the developers.
CAAN’s RESPONSE TO TEA, EARL GREY, HOT:
Sadly there are far too many pooor Liable Party policies that there has not been the time to tear them all up yet!
AND we had in the recent past decade here in NSW a revolving door of deve-lopers lobbying the NSW LNP Coalition Governments to get what they wanted!
Namely, high-rise, high density apartment precincts developed by these Big Boys and they were able to sell 100% of these ‘new homes’ to foreign buyers (the FIRB ruling allowed this!)
AND it is the deve-lopers and their real estate agents who set the price! Have this lot left the building at the top of Macquarie Street yet?
They market these homes particularly in China and India where there are many Millions among them who are of High Net Worth and even Ultra High Net Worth!
These foreign buyers also have their Proxy buyers resident here in Australia who can also launder BLACK MONEY in our real estate!
We have not yet heard if the Second Tranche of the Anti-Money Laundering Laws has been implemented and enforced to prevent BLACK MONEY awash in our Real Estate Market!
With purchase the foreign buyer can gain a Permanent Resident Visa and/or a Family Visa HENCE the huge demand for our Housing pushing up house prices … locking out our families!
WHAT A SETUP FOR THIS SECTOR TO BENEFIT FROM!
IT would seem that to BAN lobbying by developer groups would save a lot of problems, wouldn’t it?
–QUALITY OF LIFE … LIVING STANDARDS
Nairda McNair:
I don’t know about you but my living standards would be lifted considerably if there were less people living in Sydney.
rmh:
These apartments will be priced way beyond what most people can afford, as developers will need to recoup the huge cost of buying up all these quarter acre blocks. They will then be sucked up by rich property investors to rent out at exorbitant rates.
CAAN: Or foreign money launderers … ?
Farmer:
God help the poor inhabitants of Sydney. The sardine can theory is ruining a once lovely city, that was a joy to visit and live in.
Now half the stressed population is on valium, or similar, to cope with daily stress, … and no wonder. The developers and their donation receptive political mates are destroying the amenity for everyone who lives there.
But no worries…. just keep packing them in!… and keep the donations coming!
-BUILDING QUALITY AND AFFORDABILITY
Pallas:
Issues of guarantees around genuine building quality and genuine affordability are not covered here but should be. Other countries manage non-profit home building, so why can’t we?
CAAN: It is the deve-lopers and their real estate agents who set the price!
They market these homes particularly in China and India where there are many Millions among them who are of High Net Worth and even Ultra High Net Worth!
These foreign buyers also have their Proxy buyers resident here in Australia who can also launder BLACK MONEY in our real estate!
We have not yet heard if the Second Tranche of the Anti-Money Laundering Laws has been implemented and enforced to prevent BLACK MONEY awash in our Real Estate Market!
With purchase the foreign buyer can gain a Permanent Resident Visa and/or a Family Visa HENCE the huge demand for our Housing pushing up house prices … locking out our families!
WHAT A SETUP FOR THIS SECTOR TO BENEFIT FROM!
IT would seem that to BAN lobbying by developer groups would save a lot of problems, wouldn’t it?
–HIGH DENSITY
Vindy:
With density comes the need for more social infrastructure, and we just don’t have enough as it is.
Increased density in existing neighbourhoods will increase demand for the limited infrastructure in place, which may be inadequate for the current population.
Time to start a conversation that recognises high density needs more than just a rail or metro line. Would love to see the true budget costings on what it would take to build all the density AND the infrastructure needed.
Also prudent to look at the current high density builds and see how much was invested in social infrastructure and see if it’s working.
Overlord:
Can’t wait for the density push in areas of Sydney where the infrastructure cannot cope. Roads, sewerage and electricity.
A perfect storm which will hit new residents as much as existing residents.
All to appease the Great God Population Growth. Minns … just advocates whatever big business wants.
When economists start advocating urban policies be very very concerned !
Bhenson:
A fast train linking Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne would relieve housing stress, spread our population out and allow us to grow without choking our cities and destroying our quality of life.
CAAN: Agree FAST TRAINS would be a wonderful alternative to flying! However, this has repeatedly been put on the backburner due to cost! As our population grows rapidly. And our NSW Government
and Local Government are preoccupied with fixing up the roads damaged by construction, heavy trucks, maintaining power – overhead power lines, repairing/replacing old sewer lines.
IT would seem we taxpayers cannot afford the DEMANDS from the Property Sector! As they walk all over us!
In allowing deve-lopers to REZONE Sydney for higher density we have lost our ‘Community Rights’! We have lost the value of what we paid for! FFS!
Especially those whose homes neighbour the newly rezoned areas! To be confronted by storey upon storey … overshadowing … wind tunnels … loss of neighbourhood community of a garden suburb … with ever more people circling …
rmh:
The idea that knocking down traditional suburban housing and building multi-storey apartments on Sydney’s upper north shore will help solve housing affordability is a joke. These apartments will be priced way beyond what most people can afford, as developers will need to recoup the huge cost of buying up all these quarter acre blocks. They will then be sucked up by rich property investors to rent out at exorbitant rates.
CAAN: And/or ‘sucked up’ by foreign money launderers? Developers know there are Millions of foreign
buyers ready to splash the ‘Black Cash’.
IT is only now, it seems, that the wealthy ‘North Shore’ is experiencing the uprooting, and havoc that has been wide-spread across Sydney!
Bloody Barbie:
The government needs to fix the issues with empty apartments and houses owned by foreign investors or * stop foreign investment in apartments and housing.*
We keep building but in some areas such as Hurstville you see so few lights on in apartments in the evening as they are empty. Other countries can manage to stop foreigners buying. Why can’t we?
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot:
The government’s plan will deliver more housing, but very little of it will be affordable. What it will absolutely deliver is even more mega profits to the developers.
Chris Sharpe:
I believe that is the plan.
They feel they need to blatantly lie to get it across the line for some reason..
Centrist:
Most people calling for high density to accommodate future immigration forget that these additional people need food.
Australia has the lowest average topsoil depth of any continent (10% of Europe’s average topsoil depth). Farms cannot also be high density.
If we want to eat more than beef and wheat, we will need to clear a lot more native habitat near the coast to grow more food.
I would prefer that Australia’s population growth tapers off to near zero.
Norskkatt:
An excerpt from Mr Kozial’s article of 3 February:
“The survey of 1035 Sydneysiders, conducted in January, found 50 per cent were “very concerned” about living costs, compared with 40 per cent last year. Another 39 per cent were “fairly concerned”.
The proportion who said they were somewhat likely or very likely to leave Sydney in the next few years increased to 21 per cent from 18 per cent …”
This finding seems to suggest that Sydney has become a significantly less pleasant place to live.
*Keep calm and carry on:
The SMH’s support of the Minn’s Government plan to reduce all Sydney residents quality of life and sabotage reaching emissions reduction targets is getting old.
Increasing density and reducing green canopies and green space will be detrimental to communities and the environment.
I live in an area that will allow town houses, terraces or 2 story apartments. My husband and I could make a large profit in selling our home to a developer.
Our gardens, nurtured over the past 15 years to provide large shade trees, lawn space for family recreation and flowering shrubs will be bulldozed.
Living close to a reserve that runs into national park this local development will displace bush turkeys, Perrin’s tree frogs, blue-tongue’s, green tree snakes, possums and Tawny Frog Mouths that currently live in or around our garden, having a big impact on the local ecosystem.
The infrastructure to support this growth is inadequate – the trains full at peak, and there are regular extended delays sitting due to broken down trains. The roads are clogged, the public schools well above their student caps, and it’s normal to wait a week to see the GP. The water system doesn’t cope with storm water and broken mains in our aging pipes are common, as are blackouts in stormy weather.
Please explore some other options – reduced immigration, better transport links to regional areas that are crying out for larger populations to sustain local businesses, decentralising government services to provide jobs.
Anonymous Coward:
Higher density belongs in the CBD and immediate surrounds. Not in our suburbs.
*seen it coming:
Ignoring demand as the solution to a housing crisis is foolish. I see not a mention anywhere of Senators Sharkie and Gee’s bill to prohibit sales of existing housing to foreign buyers which would help lower demand. Seems like no one wants housing to be affordable ever.
Why ignore reducing demand as a rapid method of slowing housing’s rising costs? Please tell me, I am here all day.
Lex:
There is a dire shortage of both housing per se and social housing.
CAAN: Why is this so? It has nothing to do with the GROWTH OF IMMIGRATION, has it? Of course not!
nbcampbell:
The NSW Government needs to fund and build more public housing. There are thousands of eligible people on the waiting list who are currently renting privately.
The formula for renting public housing is 30% of a person’s disposable income. That should be adopted as a rental cap for the private rental market. There should also be a tax on investment properties that are left vacant. *
Gruffydd
Bevan you love to bang on about density, but you NEVER talk about:
a) The new schools
b) The new hospitals.
c) the new sewage infrastructure, water infrastructure.
d) Road management
e) Decent public transport (just because you build near a railway station does not mean the transport will follow or actually get you from point A to B).
How about you write an article about ALL THOSE THINGS you need to get correct BEFORE you build up.
The abject disaster of the M8 Westconnex should tell you about as much as you need to know about how we do forward planning and infrastructure in NSW
Jeanette:
And don’t forget:
f) Open space
Totally agree with you Gruffydd. The SMH agenda is extremely one-sided. *
Lex:
Open space is more achievable with the move to high-rise than if the entire Sydney Basin is plastered with far-flung, low-level & detached, car-dependant housing.
??????????:
Wrong. A stable population policy is the solution.
Not trashing what used to be a beautiful city.
Gymealad:
The more people you cram into high rise chicken box apartments the less attractive Sydney will become. Transport congestion, pollution, overcrowded beaches and public spaces do not make a place more liveable. Do people really want to live on top of each other?
Simply saying you want to live in Sydney has no more justification than saying you want to live in Mayfair in London, it is not a god given right.
Start decentralisation now, it should have happened 50 years ago.
CAAN: The Albanese Government is reducing immigration. Read more! “International Students
turned away in record numbers”
jopaca:
HIgher density building is not the complete answer to increasing population. Where are the plans for the transport, health, education and social infrastructure?
Does this rezoning take us 10, 20 or 50 years before we hit the next housing crisis?
And then consider the Mascot Towers, North Sydney Pool and the Rozelle Interchange. Is Sydney really ready to plan, build and deliver suitable and functional large scale expansion?
Sydney needs to be more than a toll operator’s and developer’s paradise.
Bloody Barbie:
The government needs to fix the issues with empty apartments and houses owned by foreign investors or stop foreign investment in apartments and housing.
We keep building but in some areas such as Hurstville you see so few lights on in apartments in the evening as they are empty. Other countries can manage to stop foreigners buying. Why can’t we?
Econoclast
The only rational solution to the housing crisis is a substantial reduction in demand, that is: immigration.
A very easy lever that would have almost instant results without creating havoc due to poor infrastructure.
READ MORE AND ALSO VIEW MORE COMMENTS!
The share of lending to property investors is at a six-year high.CREDIT:STEVEN SIEWERT
The Centre for Independent Studies says planning restrictions have massively contributed to Australia’s housing affordability crisis. Picture: Getty.
Here’s an article by the usual vested interests saying NEGATIVE GEARING AND
THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX DISCOUNT (TAX BENEFITS) is a “trivial” driver of house
prices. Of course they’re blaming some thing else like the NSW Planning Rules
for boosting property prices as much as 40%!
AND ADDING more than 40% to house prices in Sydney and Melbourne …
YET it is reported here that these tax benefits only boost values by between 1%
and 4%.
AND what if the Feds were to cut back on migration the sector would only need
to build for Australian First Home Buyers!
THAT would amount to a fall in CO2 emissions from the construction materials of
concrete, steel and glass. A win/win!
AND what of the increased DEMAND through the FIRB Ruling that has allowed
developers to sell 100% of their ‘new homes’ to foreign buyers? Apart from the high
migration growth increasing DEMAND?
HOW come during December 2020 within 3 weeks SYDNEY house prices
escalated by $200,000; totalling $500,000 within a few months in 2021?
NEWS REPORTS of more ‘Homeless’ Australians now sleeping rough in our
regions!
VIEW to learn more about the Board members of the CIS! With
backgrounds in investment banking, merger acquisitions, corporate sector,
property law …
COMMUNITY ACTION ALLIANCE FOR NSW (CAAN): HOUSING INEQUALITY WITH AUSSIES LOCKED OUT! 