National inquiry into AUKUS to kick off in parliament today; Israel to halt planned assault on Beirut after phone call, Trump says
Reserve Bank officials judged Labour’s early housing agenda to have done little to improve supply and was likely to raise prices, directly linking immigration to affordability as Labor struggled to prove the budget would increase housing availability.
Internal memos, which the bank initially tried to keep secret, described Labour’s first three years of housing policies as “relatively modest”. The documents, obtained under freedom of information laws, were prepared for a meeting of RBA board members in May last year, the same month as the federal election.
Banking documents show policy experts have criticized policies such as Labour’s initiative to help buy shares and the expansion of a scheme that allows people to buy homes with a 5 per cent deposit.
“Many policies providing subsidies in recent years [first home buyers] – are only demand-side measures, withdraw forward purchases; “Many are of the view that this simply translates into higher prices,” they wrote. “It is characterized as a demand-side measure to bridge the gap until supply comes online.”
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers yesterday moved to dispel doubts about whether removing investors’ concessions would increase supply, issuing a forecast suggesting $25 billion spent on investment could be diverted to new homes, which could still be negatively affected.
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