This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Queensland government will hold a Housing Summit to address housing issues in this state, whilst the property industry calls for the land tax to be repealed.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this week’s roundtable was a first step toward the Queensland Housing Summit which will be held in October and feeding into National Cabinet’s consideration of the issue of housing and cost of living.
“Affordable housing is critical to maintaining our great Queensland lifestyle. Many of the causes of the increased housing costs are national and need national solutions.
“I fully understand this is a tough time for many Queenslanders. We all know that recent interest rate increases by the independent Reserve Bank of Australia have made it tough for homeowners.
“All levels of government have a role to play in improving the current housing situation,” Palaszczuk said.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said a way forward, in partnership with all those who have responsibility for housing, was urgently needed.
“The Property Council of Australia’s report showed that Queensland’s population grew by almost 750,000 between 2011 and 2021, with close to 90% in south-east Queensland.
“A compounding set of circumstances including massive population growth, supply chain and workforce restraints and multiple weather events have created a housing challenge,” he added.
Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said population growth had outpaced delivery of new land supply, put unprecedented pressure on the private rental market and impacted social housing but housing action is needed by all to address housing shortages across the state.
“This can’t be done by any one entity alone – we must have greater commitment to working together,” Enoch said. “The housing sector is calling for positive action and solutions, and we know building more social housing is only one piece of the puzzle – better strategy from councils is also needed to make an impact on the housing ecosystem.”
The round table will also involve non-government stakeholders including Q Shelter, Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS), the REIQ, Property Council of Australia, Master Builders and the Planning Institute of Australia among others.
“My government has continued to act on this urgent issue including the construction of over 7,400 new social and affordable homes as part of our historic $1.9 billion Queensland Housing Strategy Action Plan,” Palaszczuk said. “That’s in addition to the establishment of a $1 billion housing investment fund and investing $200 million to unlock housing supply.”
Meanwhile the property continues to call for the government to repeal its land tax.
Buyer’s agent Pete Wargent warned that when the new land tax rules come into effect next year, many commercial and residential landlords will be forced to either increase rents or sell their properties, exacerbating an already chronic shortage of rental properties, particularly in the south-east corner of the state.
“The new tax legislation is both illogical and very unusual, and this unprecedented legislative reform runs contrary to the usual principles of taxation, penalising investors who own properties in other jurisdictions unnecessarily.
“The problem with such a double tax ‘grab’ is that although in the first instance it appears to raise funding for infrastructure in Queensland, there will inevitably be unintended consequences, which hurt not only landowners and landlords, but in turn also companies and small businesses,” he added.
“The Queensland government provides an example of an investor owning one property in Queensland with a taxable land value of $745,000, and taxable land value interstate of $1,565,000, and in this instance the land tax increases by more than 330% from $1,950 to $8,422. And bear in mind that this is a single cherry-picked example – in reality for many landlords currently under the land tax thresholds will suddenly be slugged with very large tax bills, leaving them no option but to sell,” he concluded.
