A new report released today by Prosper Australia has found governments across Australia are effectively giving away $11 billion a year to wealthy landowners by failing to put a fair price on development rights.
The report urges state governments to price these assets fairly, as the ACT has done for more than 50 years. The revenue could be a game changer for housing affordability.
Prosper Australia’s report proposes that each state establishes a “Fair Housing Fund” with the revenue, which could fund both:
- the abolition of stamp duty for every first home buyer across Australia, benefitting more than 90,000 buyers each year, and
- almost 200,000 new social housing dwellings – a more than 40% increase in the total national housing stock.
Quotes attributable to Dr Tim Helm, economist and report author:
“This is $11 billion of public assets being given away free every year. We wouldn’t accept this if we were giving away state land, ports, or toll roads, so we shouldn’t accept it in the case of development rights.”
“The community is getting ripped off to the tune of $11 billion every year by this giveaway to wealthy landowners — that’s $1000 for every household in Australia, every year”
“Housing help should be going to the ‘have-nots’, not the ‘have-lots’.”
