Recall Housing Minister Clare O’Neil’s recent comments to JJJ’s Hack radio show, stating that the Albanese government did not want to see house prices fall.
There you have it.
The Albanese government does not want housing prices to fall at all.
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“We want to bring house price growth into something sustainable. So we are not trying to bring down house prices”, O’Neil said.
“Our government’s policies are not going to reduce house prices and we want house prices to grow sustainably”.
O’Neil’s comments have been the unofficial policy of Australian politicians for decades.
For example, former Prime Minister John Howard enunciated this position 21 years ago on Brisbane radio.
“I haven’t found anybody in seven-and-a-half years shake their fist at me and say, ‘Howard, I’m angry with you for letting the value of my house increase’”, then Prime Minister Howard said.
Because roughly two-thirds of Australians own their homes outright or are paying them off, politicians support rising prices. They also hold large property portfolios themselves, benefiting from rising prices.
However, home ownership is heavily skewed toward older Australians.
The situation may be different in New Zealand.
Miriam Bell at Stuff.co.nz reported last year that “falling house prices cause more optimism than concern”.
“A recent Stuff NowNext survey shows falling prices are viewed with more optimism than concern by most people”, reported Bell.
“Seventeen percent of the survey’s respondents are worried about falling house prices, but 48% feel neutral about them, while 32% are optimistic about them”.
“Among the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34-year-old groups, optimism was particularly pronounced, at 53% and 43% respectively”.
The survey revealed that first-home buyers and parents of first-home buyers were most supportive of lower house prices.
“Even five years ago, rising prices were almost universally seen as a good thing. That has changed, and polls have increasingly found that people want prices to come back down”, Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen said.
“New Zealand now has its lowest rate of home ownership in 70 years, and many people can see that where prices are is not good for society, or the economy, and they feel it would be bad for them to skyrocket up”.
Bell separately reported that New Zealand first home buyers want a standalone house, not an apartment.
“Sixty-one percent of renters in the survey said they want to own a home, but can not afford to buy – and yet 79% of renters said they want to buy a house”, wrote Bell.
“That is more than twice the amount who are keen on a townhouse (36%), and significantly more than the 15% who want a unit, or the 12% who want an apartment”.
I suspect that views would be similar in Australia. Although two-thirds of Australians own their homes or are paying them off, many, like me, have children who are locked out and would like to see home prices fall.
Another thing working in favour of Kiwi first-home buyers is that net overseas migration has fallen sharply.
The reality is that housing affordability cannot become “affordable” unless prices fall back to reasonable levels.
