2 April 2012

Houses going to a motza, but no appetite to build more?

2 April 2012 | By johnboy

Liberal Leader Zed Seselja is pointing out that Canberra median house prices are now the most expensive in the nation (despite our leading housing affordabilty and multi point plans, how can this be?) while builders are going on strike after having been asked to give some of their windfall profits back to the community.

“ACT Labor have left their legacy on Canberra’s housing market through unaffordable first homes, massive housing taxes, and an over-reliance on land sales,” Mr Seselja said.

“The average home in Canberra now costs almost $530,000 and is the most expensive in the country, while the average first home cost is over $400,000. This makes it very difficult for potential first homebuyers to even enter the market.

“It is also clear that ACT Labor’s $50,000+ per unit tax is a significant deterrence for builders, as dwelling approvals have once again fallen in trend terms for the eight consecutive month.

“Canberra’s affordable housing crisis has come about due to restricted land supply, a broken planning system, poor infrastructure delivery, high taxes and a lack of competition.

Would Canberra’s builders take a break until Zed can get elected in October and repeal the change of use charges?

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housebound11:34 am 03 Apr 12

Would Canberra’s builders take a break until Zed can get elected in October and repeal the change of use charges?
Yes.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back10:25 am 03 Apr 12

EvanJames said :

My advice to buyer
According to the online tools provided by banks, a couple both earning a below median 50,000/yr can borrow approx $564,552, which is above the median house price.

I think people should suck it up and jump into the market instead of whinge about it.

What can people who aren’t a couple borrow? Enough to buy a house in the Canberra region?

No.

There’s generally an amount the banks will lend, even if your income is quite low. If what they lend is enough for the property you want, you’ll need to either save more or increase your income (or both).

VYBerlinaV8_is_back10:22 am 03 Apr 12

milkman said :

gentoopenguin said :

Buying a sticks and brick house for half a million is for fools and speculators (the two may be intimately intertwined).

That’s right. Some of us buy something decent.

One good troll deserves another, eh?

EvanJames9:35 am 03 Apr 12

My advice to buyer
According to the online tools provided by banks, a couple both earning a below median 50,000/yr can borrow approx $564,552, which is above the median house price.

I think people should suck it up and jump into the market instead of whinge about it.

What can people who aren’t a couple borrow? Enough to buy a house in the Canberra region?

No.

milkman8:07 pm 02 Apr 12

gentoopenguin said :

Buying a sticks and brick house for half a million is for fools and speculators (the two may be intimately intertwined).

That’s right. Some of us buy something decent.

gentoopenguin7:01 pm 02 Apr 12

Buying a sticks and brick house for half a million is for fools and speculators (the two may be intimately intertwined).

milkman5:39 pm 02 Apr 12

Houses cost a lot to build, especially at current land prices, so there is lots of incentive to go and buy (and maybe renovate) an existing house, which is usually in a better location anyway.

Deref5:20 pm 02 Apr 12

Come on Zed – don’t be shy – tell us how much houses will be under your gubmint.

chilli4:57 pm 02 Apr 12

Hmmmm.

ABS says:
PRIVATE SECTOR DWELLINGS EXCLUDING HOUSES
– The trend estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 3.8% in February and has now fallen for 14 months.
– The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 15.8% following a rise of 1.9% last month.

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSES
– The trend estimate for private sector houses approved fell 0.3% in February and has fallen for 26 months.
– The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses fell 3.4% in February 2012 and has now fallen for 3 successive months.
From: 8731.0 – Building Approvals, Australia, February 2012

Zed quotes the trend terms without specifying whether he is referring to units or houses – but let’s assume it’s units, given the context. That means that Canberra, with a dwelling approval that’s only fallen for eight consecutive months, is doing better than Australia as a whole (where the fall has been going on for 14 consecutive months).

Not sure that this supports your argument, Zed, that a land betterment tax has anything to do with it.

Any he should take heart from the absolute figures, if not the trend. ABS figures show that 2,271 units were approved to be built between January- December 2011 in the ACT, and 71% of them were in buildings of 4 stories or more. So yay – the building industry lives!