New South Wales is in a housing affordability crisis with rents skyrocketing and house prices still out of reach for anyone on low to medium incomes. To help some first home buyers, the government is giving them a choice to forgo paying stamp duty on homes valued up to $1.5 million for an annual land tax of $400 plus 0.3 percent of the unimproved land value.

Home ownership in Australia is declining, particularly for young people and I supported the bill because it could give some first home buyers an advantage over investors in a competitive market, is not compulsory and includes hardship provisions. I made it clear during debate however that I would need to see further modelling before supporting any expansion to the scheme, which I worry could drive up prices while locking people into a lifelong tax.

Very few people in housing stress and no one at risk of homelessness will likely use this option and I argued that they should be the focus of a housing affordability policy including by building more social and affordable housing and mandating strong targets for major developments. My speech on the bill > HERE.  

I’ve also submitted questions about measures to address increasing residential rents > HERE.