Robert Braby

Candobetter.net Editor: Article updated with full submission included and relabeling of table. The Commonwealth Senate released its long-awaited report on housing affordability on 8 May last, conveniently a few days before the release of the Federal Budget. The 461 page report examined, inter alia, the many supply and demand factors which impact on housing prices and affordability, and acknowledged that supply was not keeping up with demand – an obvious and major cause of rising house prices. But the emphasis of its recommendations was that the solution lay in increasing supply rather than in reducing demand. The elephant in the room, namely population growth, although mentioned in several submissions, hardly featured in its recommendations. This is not surprising, given the reluctance of politicians to face up to the obvious but politically awkward issues of immigration and birth rates, especially with the high level of influence exerted by vested business and property interests (including the recently revealed large number of politicians who own investment property).