Prosper Australia

“When you’ve paid your rent, you’ve paid your tax.”  “So what’s a Georgist?” you ask. A Georgist (or at least a “full-on” Georgist) is someone who says there should be no taxes except those on land values, payable by the owners — and is keen to explain that “land” doesn’t include buildings. (It does include [...]

  by Philip Soos Escalating housing costs have, of course, received much attention as both prices and rents increased faster than incomes and inflation over the last decade. In this vein, property research firm RP Data launched a monthly report called Buy vs. Rent, providing a comparison of housing costs across Australia’s suburbs. Recent results show that in [...]

The Victorian Government wants to, needs to, spend billions on Melbourne transport to catch up with the city’s explosive growth. As John Legge kindly points out in a must-read at The Age: “The affluent have crossed the Yarra and now colonise almost all of the zone-one public transport area, delighting in the benefits of the [...]

‘We help property sellers sell’ is realestate.com.au’s proud claim. It is shocking to discover how far this News Corporation subsidiary is prepared to go to fullfil this promise. An un-named writer penned a delightful upbeat article on their website based on research called the Housing Affordability Sentiment Index that realestate.com.au commissioned from mccrindle research. QUOTE [...]

  Next week, a disappointed man and his family are flying out to a new life in Seattle, Washington. They came to Australia seeking new opportunities in a high growth economy. They love Australia, love Melbourne, but have been driven away by land prices that would consume their lifetime earnings. This couple are rational adults. [...]

by Philip Soos Executive Summary Negative gearing is a popular investment strategy as it allows a net loss to be deducted against an investor’s personal tax liability at their marginal tax rate. While negative gearing has likely been in operation since the first personal income taxation returns were filed many decades ago, the current housing [...]

David Collyer’s edited presentation from our Northcote Town Hall event earlier this year. With a jump in job losses last quarter, stock levels at near record levels, land supply in abundance and over 90,000 vacant properties here in Melbourne, one wonders how long Negative Gearing investors can hold these properties empty in lieu of capital [...]

Toby Johnstone in the Sydney Morning Herald is at it again, suggesting renovating for profit in Sydney makes sense. On September 8 he profiled 50 Princes Street Bexley where a bright-eyed couple spent 5 years reclaiming a ‘swamp’. The property is now for sale at $630-680,000. The higher figure is probably the real vendor expectation. [...]

Dr Ellis is no help for the vast majority of Australians who simply want a home to call their own and not be some cats-paw in financier rent-seeking.

Hobsons Bay Council is considering charging residents by the kilogram for garbage removal. While markets have their place, putting a price on rubbish will have many unintended consequences, few of them pleasant. The anti-social will cost-shift, stuffing their garbage into neighbors’ bins in the middle of the night. Locked bins? What about pedestrians who drop [...]