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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3044 ..

MR STEFANIAK: I thank the member for the question. I do not know what other sort of market you would expect us to sell them on, Mr Whitecross, apart from an open market.

Mr Humphries: The black market, perhaps?

MR STEFANIAK: The black market, perhaps, or something like that. I think you will find, Mr Whitecross, although you were not in the previous Labor Government, that it was also their practice to sell houses on the open market. They also did not sell them on the black market. That is a relatively common practice. It is a sad fact at present for anyone selling a property - be it the Housing Trust or be it a private individual - that often the valuations for properties are not necessarily what you will get when you sell. Valuations of properties at present and the prices that people are getting in most aspects of the market are low. It is a very good buyer's market, Mr Whitecross. That is for certain. Accordingly, some of the valuations are higher than the prices that people are getting for properties, and that includes ACT Housing.

Mr Whitecross, I do not think it is true to say that ACT Housing is causing prices to go down. That is, unfortunately, just a very sad fact of the moment in the housing market in Canberra. If you have read the Canberra Times advertisements for housing every Saturday over the last few years you will have seen that over the last three years prices have decreased for a wide variety of houses right throughout Canberra. No doubt they will pick up again. I think you are well aware, Mr Whitecross, that ACT Housing has an ongoing buying and selling program. We have had an immense amount of debate in the last two weeks about what Housing is doing, what the market is like, how many properties are being sold and how many are being built.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, I am sorry to hear how ill-informed the Minister is about how they sell houses.

MR SPEAKER: No preamble.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, my supplementary question is this: Can you confirm, Minister, that the marketing of these properties which are being sold at the moment is deliberately designed to create the impression in the minds of prospective buyers that these houses will be sold cheaply?

MR STEFANIAK: Obviously, anyone selling a house, be it the Government or be it a private individual, would like to get the best possible price. That is absolute basic commonsense. Obviously, Mr Whitecross, it is far better for us if we can get the maximum possible price for a property. Unfortunately, the housing market has its ups and downs, and at present, in Canberra, we are in a trough. As you are well aware, Mr Whitecross, or you should be well aware, over many years ACT Housing has bought places and it has sold places. It is an ongoing program. During the debate last week, Mr Whitecross, I think I quoted some figures for the last few years. Actually, we sold fewer houses in the last financial year, as a Government, than your lot did for the two previous years. So there are swings and roundabouts on that.

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