Page 319 - Week 01 - Thursday, 10 February 2022
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demand for new housing. Increasing the supply of land for new homes and increasing the total housing stock is an effective way to impact price pressures and housing affordability for home buyers and renters.
Demand for new housing is generally driven by population growth and household formation. Record low interest rates, coupled with record levels of household savings in the past 15 months, are currently influencing the level of activity in the property market, which in turn has an impact on property prices. Government economic and industry stimulus measures associated with COVID-19, and actions to reduce the overall cost of buying a home with the reduction of stamp duty, are also generating activity in the property market and impacting property prices.
The ACT Government provides targeted assistance to home buyers, as outlined in the responses to questions one and two.
The ACT Government is the first jurisdictional government in Australia to act to remove the burden of stamp duty for the home buyers through its tax reform program. The Government has successfully implemented numerous stamp duty concessions and a 50 per cent rebate on Lease Variation Charge as part of COVID-19 stimulus.
Following the expiry of these stimulus measures on 30 June 2021, the ACT Government has announced the abolition of stamp duty for off-the-plan apartment and townhouse purchases up to $500,000, effective from 1 July 2021. This is part of the government’s continued tax reform program of phasing out stamp duty and replacing it with more efficient land-based taxes. Improving housing affordability for all Canberrans has been an objective of the ACT Government for many years.
(4) The ACT does well on many measures of housing affordability and continues to experience comparatively low levels of housing stress (generally defined as paying more than 30 per cent of household income on rent or mortgage costs). This is due to Canberra’s low unemployment and comparatively high incomes, though the overall prosperity of the ACT can conceal disadvantage at the individual level. The ACT’s full time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings was $1,910 in May 2021, compared with the national average of $1,737.
Housing affordability, used here with reference to being able to afford to buy a home, is a relative measure that comes down to individual or household circumstances. The ACT Government provides targeted assistance to home buyers, as outlined in the responses to questions one and two.
The ACT has almost 170,000 households which are divided into income quintiles, and analysis in September 2021 showed that for an average household in the ACT (earning an average gross household income of around $144,939), ‘affordable’ rent is up to $836 per week and an ‘affordable’ mortgage enables the purchase of a home for up to $798,500.
This is above the median rent of $580 a week for a three-bedroom house and $510 a week for two-bedroom unit in Canberra (REIA data as at June Quarter 2021) and the median dwelling price of $649,950 recorded in July 2021 (Based on Access Canberra Property Sales Data). At these levels, there are many homes available on the private market.
(5) The ACT Government provides targeted assistance to home buyers, as outlined in the responses to questions one and two.
Goal two of the ACT Housing Strategy is “Reducing Homelessness.” The ACT Government provides a range of accommodation and support programs for people
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