Last night's Melbourne Transport Super Forum featuring Minister Terry Mulden, the ALP's Jill Hennessy and the Green's Greg Barber was as packed as a Melbourne train with policy wonks and advocates. The presentations were dominated by the usual point scoring. But there...
BLOG: Commentary
Over the BBQ
They couldn’t afford a new house, but they could afford two. Plus they get the “tax benefit” of negative gearing the rental, which we know is a crock, and they’re doubly leveraged.
The Reserve Bank of Blackjack
The lack of intervention by the RBA over recent years has left the Australian banking system facing an inevitable confrontation. A confrontation that will suck the very life out of the Australian economy; and our way of life. Lets face it, incomes, and GDP are simply not keeping up with the banks toxic spending binge.
3 terms to make property speculators stammer
Who pays for a $43 million windfall gain in three years? That's a 352% return for the "entrepreneurial" Richard Gu. His skill? To have the capital to buy the land, then to apply for a 1500 apartment re-zoning of the land (from commercial to multi-density). Not bad...
WA’s necessary three card trick
By our 15 year old W.A Georgist Frederick Subere-Albawy, chief blogger at The Natural Commonwealth. The Western Australian Government has announced that it intends to build an underground rail link to Perth Airport, as well as Forrestfield, a suburb to the east of the...
WA Treasurer plays the TINA card on Stamp Duty
West Australian Treasurer Mike Nahan has acknowledged Stamp Duty is "dumb" but has no interest in changing it, claiming There Is No Alternative. ABC WA reports: In a speech to an economics forum in Perth on Tuesday, Dr Nahan said the state had come to rely on...
Dump Stamp Duties to help labour mobility
One of the biggest impediments to labour mobility are stamp duties levied on housing transactions. Stamp duties can add tens-of-thousands of dollars to the cost of changing home, leading to fewer transactions and discouraging labour mobility.
Don’t get fined $30,000 for moving house!
“A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine,” wrote G.K. Chesterton, “except that the fine is generally much lighter.” In Victoria, for example, the stamp duty payable on the purchase of a $600,000 house-land package (below the median price for...
No Land for You, Melbourne
The Napthine government is determined to limit land supply and thereby further increase the cost of land for all in Melbourne.
The price of freshly subdivided land on the outskirts of cities reverberates and amplifies all the way to their centre. Constricting supply has profound implications.
China Watch – Land turnover ‘plunge’ a predictor of recessionary forces
Concerns continue to grow in China where the value of land sales are down 38% y.o.y and VOLUME down 45% according to Market Watch: Total land sales fell to 1,767 transactions in May in 300 Chinese cities, down 45% from a year ago and 19% lower than in the previous...