Latest News & Commentary
Australia’s real lifters and leaners
by Philip Soos When the infamous duo of Abbott and Hockey came to power in 2013, they embarked upon a polarising rhetoric of "lifters" versus "leaners" separating Australians into one of two camps. The split was a simple one: those who earn and engage in productive...
Modelling housing failure
Cameron Murray from Fresh Economic Thinking provides insight on why today's housing modeling is not up to the task of providing accurate insights into urban development. The workhorse model of urban economics is the Alonso-Muth-Mills (AMM) model of the mono-centric...
Whether limiting negative gearing to new homes would raise rents
by Dr Gavin Putland Land Values Research Group For the first time that this writer can remember, a major political party is going into a federal election with a policy which, on its face, is designed to reduce the rate of increase of residential rents, allowing...
Foreign investor tax slug spreads
Catherine Cashmore appeared on Channel 9 news last night to discuss the fact we are building the wrong type of stock to meet our growing community. The report compared the 80,000 apartments due to come onto the market over the next few years with the 80,000 vacant...
Perth rents free-fall liberates the tenantry
, Perth house rents have fallen 8.4 per cent in the last year and units by 9.3 per cent according to SQM Research. High pay in the mining investment boom drew many skilled engineering professionals and trades to Perth. They are now going home, seen in the steep...
Property Lobby’s million dollar no-show
On Friday May the 13th the entire real estate industry launched into full attack-mode against those willing to reform negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. The ALP and the Greens have both announced reforms targeting the subsidy to landed interests....
Bad taxes are destroying our jobs and enterprises – here’s proof
World-class fertiliser producer Incitec Pivot Ltd has painfully written $105m off its Gibson Island plant in Brisbane – squeezed by high gas costs, low Urea prices and bad taxes – just as it enters a major 'shut' to refurbish this key national industrial asset....
The Easy Economics of High Speed Rail
Last week I was invited to give a presentation at Melbourne University to the Beyond Zero Emissions discussion group on the ability of Land Value Capture to finance infrastructure. They also asked for an Econ 101 type introduction. In 2014, BZE released a report Zero...
4 Corners hard-boils ‘Home Truths’ from our land bubble
Australia’s premier TV current affairs program 4 Corners has a reputation for game-changing. Thoughtful analysis and a giant audience will do that. When it thunders, the time has arrived for a full reset. Last night’s episode ‘Home Truths’ lanced The Great Australian...
4 Corners: Home Truths
President Catherine Cashmore has been busy with the 4 Corners team filming a number of scenes around Melbourne. Tonight we find out which scenes make national TV in a much overdue investigation into the pressure housing affordability places on society. Thanks to all...
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