The Housing Industry Association (HIA) will commence its Housing Australians campaign with the release of a series of radio and print advertisements. Source: Timberbiz
The HIA campaign aims to place housing issues squarely on the national agenda to highlight the facts impacting new housing, from the disproportionate level of taxation on the family home, growing rates of unaffordability, and the current high level of job losses in the sector.
These facts are:
• This year, Australia will build 25,000 less homes than we did a decade ago.
• Building and construction has contracted every month for the last 34 months.
• Over one million Australian workers in building and construction watch helplessly as building keeps falling, knowing their jobs are at risk.
• Severe drops in new housing have forced many manufacturing and small businesses to close with risks of further layoffs.
• Taxes, levies, fees and charges account for 40% of the cost of a new home.
• Australia will need 1.3 million new homes built by 2020. At the current rate of building, more than 150,000 families will miss out on the home they’ve waited for.
“There is also an urgent need to identify sources of revenue growth – the residential construction sector can deliver such growth in spades if the government is bold enough to talk reform as well as budgetary crisis,” said HIA Chief Economist, Harley Dale.
“Economic reform directed at residential construction boosts new housing supply, economic activity and employment, and installs a vital cog in the wheel of fiscal recovery, namely revenue growth.
“To use just one example, a 1% reduction in red tape can generate $5.10 of additional GDP per increased dollar of residential activity,” said Dale. “That’s a $1.15 billion per annum boost to economic activity.”
The HIA will officially launch 50 actions for housing Australians on May 9 at the National Press Club, Canberra.
According to the HIA new home sales has a modest recovery in March from the record lows reached in 2012.
The HIA New Home Sales report showed that total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 4.2% in March 2013, taking sales back to volumes comparable to 12 months ago.
In the month of March 2013 detached house sales increased by 16.3% in New South Wales, 7.3% in Victoria, 3.2% in Queensland, and 5.7% in South Australia. Detached house sales fell by 5.6% in Western Australia.
