From David Smith MP - May/June eNews

The Albanese Government is unapologetic about wanting to build more homes and make housing more affordable for more Australians, especially first home buyers.

The Budget made key announcements about housing in order to rebalance a housing system where house prices have decoupled from incomes. Since 1999, house prices have risen over 400 per cent, more than twice as fast as average incomes.

This status quo has locked out generations of home owners, while providing large tax breaks to housing investors. Our tax changes will help about 75,000 Australians achieve the dream of home ownership.

We’ll limit negative gearing for residential property to new builds from July next year.

And we’re replacing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount with inflation‑adjusted indexation, to restore the taxation of real gains. These changes will be prospective, and new builds will retain the option to use the 50 per cent discount.

We are also working to improve supply and unlock more sites for housing with a $50 million investment in the ACT for the power, roads and drains needed for new housing developments.

Our main focus in housing remains increasing housing supply, but it is clear that increasing supply needs to be coupled with a refocused investment demand towards new builds.

The reforms in this Budget will lift our total investment in housing to a record $47 billion and this week the Housing Minister released the new national housing plan, Homes for Australia. This is the most comprehensive housing plan in our nation’s history.

More information on Homes for Australia - A National Plan.