‘A Guide to Property Values 2012’ by Victoria’s Valuer General was released July 5. It has been comprehensively ignored. The report dissects property transfers and prices lodged with the titles office. This dataset is the actuals, the definitive historical record, and...
BLOG: Commentary
Cigarette Tax hike defies economic logic
By Sam Oldfield, an economics student at Latrobe University and an Associate at Prosper Australia. The Rudd government’s sudden increase in cigarette taxes completely disregards sound economic practice. Joe Hockey calls it “policy on the run” – he couldn’t be more...
Victorian Government entrenches Englobo
Places Victoria, a government agency that once competed with private land developers to limit their pricing power, is to sell all its remaining land holdings on Melbourne’s outskirts to a single buyer, the AFR reports today. Rebecca Thistleton has Places Victoria...
How land-value windfalls could pay for the Doncaster railway
The Herald Sun reports research by PRD Nationwide showing that on average, across all Melbourne suburbs, the presence of a railway station in a suburb adds about $48,000 to the value of the median “house” in the suburb. This average rises to $59,500...
A sore lesson from housing history
It is often said those who fail to understand the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat it. In one area, this holds spectacularly true: the residential real estate market. History has shown time and again the fortunes of Australians are closely linked to the...
Incoming! Everyone Duck! Incoming!
Everybody duck! A property spruiker has taken exception to Philip Soos’ panoramic chart pack of Australian property values. Cripes! Pete Wargent is an investment advisor and auto-publicist who operates toward the breathless end of the investment spectrum. His new book...
Hello & Welcome Speech: Punch Lane Launch
Andy Moore, President of Prosper Australia. May 31st, 2013 We are here tonight for the launch of a new look and invigorated think tank – Prosper Australia’s new Punch Lane address – as we migrate closer to the corridors of power at the state legislature. Tonight we...
Data Hub
Prosper Australia sees free access to quality land price data as a major way to reduce information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. In other words, it is harder to fool people who know the market price and where it is trending. There are many private providers of...
Will no one fix our busted tax system?
15 May 2013 MELBOURNE:- Yesterday’s federal budget highlights again Australia’s unbalanced reliance on wage and salary taxation for government revenues, says Prosper Australia. “Taxation discourages. That is why we tax gambling, alcohol and tobacco. Unfortunately, it...
Everyone KNOWS
Land prices are falling across Australia. Yet the politico-housing complex strains at every sinew to hide this from first home buyers and jolly them into making a life-long commitment at the very worst time in eighty years. Problem is, the buyers know. They...