JANE AGIRTAN INDEPENDENT

Last week the Allan Labor Government made a series of announcements in an attempt to paper over their housing crisis after a decade of Labor governments. 

As they continue to strip away the rights of local communities to have a say in planning decisions in an apartment-centric focus on inner suburbs, services in middle and outer suburbs remain neglected.

More than a year since Labor’s “Housing Statement” was announced and key housing delivery and affordability outcomes continue to deteriorate, including:

• The rental market has continued to tighten with total active bonds falling by 12,075 in the June 2024 quarter – the largest drop in 25 years.
• The number of homes actually built across the 12 months to June 2024 fell by 2,700 on the preceding year.  
• The number of private sector home approvals fell by 2 per cent lower in 2024, when compared to 2014.
• Labor’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes continue to climb, with Land Tax, Rent Tax and Stamp Duty expected to raise almost $20 billion by 2027-28.
• Domestic building insurance premiums jumped 65 per cent, in addition to a 43 per cent increase in September 2023.
• Labor’s public housing delivery agency, Homes Victoria, suffered a $236.1 million operating loss across 2022-23.

Furthermore, shortly after announcing the statement, Labor abandoned its promise to build 80,000 new homes a year.

Planning experts have warned that Labor’s re-zoning to implement up to 20-storey height limits will automatically trigger a state windfall gains tax, applied to non-residential properties that have been re-classed as residential zones.

The controversial windfall gains tax could be as high as 62.5 per cent of the value uplift due to a re-zoning. This tax unfairly fundamentally changes the goal posts for Victorians who have invested in commercial property based on an existing set of rules, only to be slapped with unaffordable taxes by the Allan Labor Government.

This comes as Labor looks set to increase charges on property developments, which will ultimately be passed on to homebuyers.