INTHEBLACK September 2021 - Magazine - Page 46
F E AT U R E
// P R O P E R T Y M A R K E T
return
CAPITAL CITY DWELLINGS
DWELLING VALUES ON THE RISE
Index results as at
March 31, 2021
Change in dwelling values
Month
Quarter
Annual
Total Median
return
value
Sydney
3.7%
6.7%
5.4%
7.9%
$928,028
Melbourne
2.4%
4.9%
5.4%
7.9%
$736,620
Brisbane
2.4%
4.8%
6.8%
11.3%
$548,260
Adelaide
1.5%
3.2%
8.6%
13.1%
$486,555
Perth
1.8%
5.0%
6.0%
10.8%
$505,850
Hobart
3.3%
7.6%
12.5%
18.0%
$548,686
Darwin
2.3%
5.4%
14.2%
19.9%
$451,408
Canberra
2.8%
6.0%
12.1%
16.7%
$727,032
Combined capitals
2.8%
5.6%
4.8%
8.1%
$693,936
Combined regional
2.5%
6.3%
11.4%
16.6%
$448,819
National
2.8%
5.8%
6.2%
9.7%
$614,768
SOURCE: CORELOGIC
housing being both an essential need and
a highly lucrative investment.
“Australia does not have a coherent national
housing policy, and this is unlike many countries
that see it as a very important duty to house
people,” Sharam says.
“In terms of policy, we have one foot on the
accelerator and one on the brake.”
In particular, she points to the capital gains tax
(CGT) concession, which offers a 50 per cent
CGT discount on capital gains generated for
investment properties.
The discount applies to capital gains
generated on all asset classes held for 12 months
or more.
“This capital gains tax concession is one of the
key drivers of unaffordability, and since it was
introduced in the Howard era, house prices have
just gone up and up,” she says.
In addition to reforming CGT, Sharam believes
Australia needs more housing that is not entirely
within the “speculative sector”.
“We need to expand social housing, because we
have lots of low-income people in Australia who
cannot afford private rental, let alone purchase
housing,” she says.
46 ITB September 2021
“The private rental sector has also grown hugely
in the last 30 years, and we don’t have that culture
they have in Northern Europe with regards to
tenant protection.”
Sharam would also like to see institutional
build-to-rent developments encouraged through
tax incentives.
Build-to-rent developments are typically
owned by institutional investors, such as
superannuation funds, for the long term and offer
tenants more secure, long-term leases.
“Let’s fix up the tax regime, so that the
build-to-rent proponents have advantages,
because these are long-term investors who are
not ‘flipping’ properties – they are in there for
the rental yield, so they will make really good
landlords, and they will build quality housing,”
she says.
Sharam is also keen to see a scrapping of the
state-based stamp duty tax paid by the house
purchaser in favour of an annual land levy: a
proposal, incidentally, that has been floated by
the New South Wales Government.
“Paying this huge lump sum [to the
government] when you purchase a property
makes life difficult,” she says.
Above: Dr Andrea Sharam,
RMIT University.
Centre: House prices in
Melbourne are forecast to
rise by 17.6 per cent by the
end of 2021.
Top right: The construction
site of a residential
skyscraper in Shanghai.