The South Australian government is undertaking a tax review to boost state competitiveness and economic efficiency. Their main focus is considering abolishing conveyencing Stamp Duty and funding this by removing exemptions from the existing State Land Tax. Prosper...
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Melbourne and Sydney are in housing oversupply
by Lindsay David If I were an Australian central banker, politician, bank economist, or even a negatively geared property investor, I'd be telling you Australia has a chronic housing shortage, which is responsible for our sky-high housing prices. But as an independent...
Swing that Cat!
New Sydney flats will have to be bigger, the NSW Land and Environment Court ruled last week, overturning long accepted common practice allowing minimum one-bedroom unit sizes at 50m2. Dual-aspect flats must be a minimum 58m2 and more common single-aspect flats 73.4m2....
Land tax is simple and equitable
by Alex Sachez Australians love their property. Whether it be their own place of residence or whether it be their nest egg investment place, Australians love to buy and accumulate property. You don't have to look too far to see how the property obsession leaches into...
Oh look! A baby swan!
Australia desperately needs an alibi – a Black Swan event – to nominate as the tipping point that ended the land bubble. Government is rigid with fear about the political consequences of being blamed for the turn. Whoever presides over the shift will earn a page in...
Unstable land needs firm foundations
Prosper usually looks at macro economics yet a micro example of what can go wrong in the property market - very, very wrong – might aid your concentration. Andrew, a Sydney ‘investor’ bought properties in Mackay and Blackwater Queensland, “when rents were crazy and...
The great grey gouge of the West
By Leith van Onselen There’s an inter-generational war going on in the UK, which is also being played-out across most developed nations, whereby older generations are ‘making out like bandits’ at the expense of their children and grandchildren. Here’s the Financial...
The Rotting Fruits of a 100 Year Old Trend
We’ve all become slaves to the banks. The ruling elite don’t want you to know this of course. It should actually be the other way around. Banks should work for society. But where’s the free ride in that?
Ditch the saddlebags of deadweight losses – for the win
Yesterday, Cameron Kusher of CoreLogic RP Data called for the removal of conveyancing Stamp Duty and its replacement with a universal land tax. His comments come just ahead of the release of the federal government tax reform white paper. He echoes Australia’s Future...
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...