More than half of Australians say they want housing prices to fall, as a national campaign urges all parties to take up the reform challenge ahead of next year’s election.
Everybody’s Home commissioned a poll by RedBridge which found 54 per cent of Australians want house prices to decrease in the next five years, as opposed to 21 per cent who want them to rise.
Even mortgage holders are more in favour of prices dropping, by 44 per cent to 28 per cent.
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And 72 per cent of renters want house prices down.
Two-thirds of Australians (67 per cent) say the cost of housing is causing them stress, while a whopping 84 per cent are worried about housing affordability for young Australians.
About seven in 10 want the government to spend more on social housing (69 per cent) and to build, rent, and sell affordable housing to workers (67 per cent).
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And 46 per cent want negative gearing tax breaks limited to one property at a time, compared to 20 per cent who oppose the decision.
“Australia’s runaway home prices are so out of reach for so many voters that most want to see them come down,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.
“It’s a tired trope that homeowners want house prices to keep rising. Rents and mortgages have gone through the roof and there’s only so much people can afford to pay.”
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Azize said house prices would be a defining election issue.
“Many Australians are in housing stress, sacrificing their basic needs to cover housing costs, and worried that their children may never afford to move out of the family home,” she said.
“Most voters believe that expensive housing is widening the gap between the rich and poor and making it harder to live near the jobs they want and we all rely on.”
She said Australia lost “billions” of taxpayer dollars each year in handouts to property investors.
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“Australia has a social housing shortfall of 640,000 homes,” she said.
“We need the federal government to get back into the business of building homes, and strive for at least one in ten homes to be social housing.”
Everybody’s Home is laid out a “roadmap to reform” which calls for Jobseekers and income increases, national protection for renters, tax reform to reduce the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing handouts, and a major expansion of social housing.
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