REIA to government: axe the tax

Stamp duty reform, property manager shortages, housing supply and affordability are at the heart of an agenda-setting report by the real estate sector’s peak body.

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STAMP duty reform, property manager shortages, housing supply and affordability are at the heart of an agenda-setting report authored by the real estate sector’s peak body.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia has launched a strategic policy agenda ahead of the looming federal election titled Getting Real: Policy priorities for Australia’s real estate agents and agencies.

REIA president Adrian Kelly said the report provides a six-point blueprint to tackle housing’s big issues head on.

“Governments always want to know ‘what does industry want?’, and with our state institutes we have spent about 18 months making sure each of our policies are justifiable and costed – it’s not just a thought bubble,” he said.

“Getting Real is a vital resource for the current government but also future governments; local, state, federal and agents in our industry, too.

“One of the policies is having a national plan for housing, which we don’t have at the moment.

“Housing policy often only runs for one or two terms of government. But what the pandemic has proven is we have not been building enough homes for the last 20 years in most states. And the chickens have come home to roost.”

REIA president Adrian Kelly. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Kelly said while governments have policies around first home loan deposit schemes and unlocking Crown Land, both of these issues are affected by planning.

“The fact that it still takes six to 12 months to get plans approved before you can put a shovel in the ground to build a house is nonsense,” he said.

“Tinkering around the edges is not good enough, it’s time for that to stop.”

Getting Real’s priorities:

• Urgently address national property manager shortages through an innovative new national mentorship program

• Secure bipartisan commitment on a national plan for housing supply and affordability and forming a national council of housing ministers under national cabinet

• Phase out stamp duty nationally

• Increase holistic first homebuyer support, including advocating for free financial planning for Australians under 30s

• Release a white paper on the role of blockchain technology for Aussie real estate agents

• Pull more policy levers to encourage more ‘right-sizing’ as Australia’s population ages

A report for all levels of government.

The REIA estimates, across Australia, that the industry is about 10,000 property managers short of an ideal level of employment.

Mr Kelly said property managers bore the brunt of Covid in terms of managing tenants and property owners.

“It is a busy role where every minute counts,” he said.

“We have developed a policy but it will require a significant amount of funding to make it work,” he said.

On the hot button stamp duty issue, Mr Kelly said most state governments put it in the too hard basket.

“It is a serious problem,” he said.

“Stamp duty is a tax that not everybody pays but everybody gets the benefit from in terms of government spending.

“A land tax would be much fairer and cheaper, but really what the federal government should be looking at doing is adjusting the GST, a broadbased tax where everybody pays.

“In Melbourne and Sydney you will need to come up with about half a year’s average salary in order to pay your stamp duty on the purchase of a home. In most other states it is a 33 per cent of a year’s salary.”

A hybrid event was held in Hobart on Monday with agents joining online from across Australia for the report launch.

Getting Real can be accessed at reia.com.au/gettingreal

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