In March this year the Parliamentary Committee looking at housing affordability, chaired by Liberal MP Jason Falinski, found letting people withdraw super to buy a house would “likely increase demand and lead to higher property prices,” according to the chief economist at The Australia Institute, Richard Dennis.
The Coalition is now claiming that this measure will only ‘temporarily’ increase housing costs. Dennis said this poses the question as to why the Coalition trying to coax young people to buy houses at inflated rates and cop a capital loss.
It is unlikely that either major party will take measures to meaningfully drop house prices, as according to the ABS’s Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) in 2018, 66% of Australian households owned their own home with or without a mortgage.
The ABS also estimate Australia’s housing market to be worth $9.9 trillion as of the 2021 December quarter. A 1% reduction in house prices would result in $100 billion being wiped from the household wealth of 66% of Australians.
Callum Foote was a reporter for Michael West Media for four years.