Latest News & Commentary
Rates Cap to Continue Vicious Circle
“Victorian Labor’s capping of local council rates plays straight into the hands of Tony Abbott’s pro-GST revenue centralisation agenda” stated Prosper Australia Project Director Karl Fitzgerald. “The integrity of Victoria’s local council rating independence was dealt...
Land – A New Paradigm
Martin Adams debut book Land: A New Paradigm for a Thriving World is out today. The book asks what if we lived in a world where everyone had enough? A world where everyone mattered and where people lived in harmony with nature? What if the solution to our economic,...
Victoria considers ‘Value Capture’
Victorian Labor in its November 2014 election transport manifesto Project 10,000 boldly announced it would “Remove our 50 worst level crossings” at a cost of $5-6 billion. They are now the government. Grade separation of rail – elevating the track or, preferably,...
Stiglitz to Piketty: its the land!
Joseph Stiglitz's recent interview with Lynne Parrymore of the Institute for New Economics demonstrates the difference between land and capital: My paper begins with the observation that in fact, you cannot explain what has happened to the wealth/income ratio...
OECD’s Housing Concerns
Yesterday's OECD Economic Survey of Australia pinpointed key areas of risk. As Philip Soos and Paul Egan showed today in their 21 chart pack, Australia's land bubble and accommodating credit cycle opens the economy to incredible risk. But the Abbott government...
Soos and Egan – Australian Property Chart Pack
By Philip Soos and Paul D. Egan This chart pack presents the latest statistics for 2014, updating the dataset provided earlier last year. When adjusted for inflation and quality, housing prices have boomed nationwide since 1996, hitting a peak in 2010, before...
Fifty grades of shade: A story of enclosures, power and native title
By Cameron Murray Romance novels seduce you into feeling for their characters, drawing you into their exhilarating world where eventually, and predictably, the protagonists overcome their seemingly intractable obstacles and are united together. The story of property...
Value Capture trumps Tolls
Yesterday's press release was quoted in The Age article Pay Up: Grand Plan to get big projects built. After quoting the soft option of tolling drivers, which has failed spectacularly as a financing mechanism in NSW and QLD, the article moves on to quote the RACV's...
Funding Melbourne’s new underground rail link
Media Release “The Andrews government has lost no time putting its stamp on the future shape of Melbourne, funding the planning stage of the Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel – while fretting about the $9 billion cost. “Victoria can fund this vital connection, lifting train...
Schroders: A-REITs will cost you
Schroders has a paper out on Australian real estate investment trusts (REITs) A wolf in REIT’s clothing that should have every RE executive checking the polish on their shoes. David Wanis is as dour as a parson, predicting a ~1.6% return for each of the next three...
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