Australia has a housing crisis. This is agreed upon. What is causing it is also agreed upon, in the sense that everyone has identified the single cause, they are all correct, and the causes have nothing to do with each other.
Landlords are buying all the houses. They can do this because the government allows them to deduct loan interest from taxable income, a concession available to every income-producing business in Australia, which somehow makes it worse. This is called negative gearing and it is the cause.
Developers are sitting on land and refusing to build because prices might rise further, which is greed, and is also the cause.
Foreign buyers are purchasing property sight unseen, which is the cause, and which the data does not straightforwardly support, but the data is not load-bearing here. Australia is receiving more immigrants than at almost any point in its history, which is straining the housing stock. The government is unable to confirm whether this is affecting housing costs. The opposition thinks it might be, but cannot say for certain. It is hard to say.
The federal government is solving this. It has a policy to help people buy their first home. It has a policy to make renting more affordable. It has a policy to build more social housing. All three operate on the same housing stock simultaneously and are assumed not to interact.
Councils are refusing density approvals because residents don’t want them, which is democracy. State governments are overriding those councils, which is planning reform, or authoritarianism, depending on your postcode.
Building certifiers are not signing off on completions fast enough, which is obstruction, unrelated to the fact that certifiers carry indefinite personal liability for any defect in anything they approve. We have agreed it is a red tape problem.
Tradies are not available. This has been true for years. It appears in every housing report as a pipeline issue, which means someone should have acted earlier, without specifying who or when.
Building materials are expensive. Yes.
The National Construction Code now requires energy efficiency standards that add between fifteen and thirty thousand dollars to a new dwelling. This is good for the environment. It also adds cost. Bushfire Attack Level assessments add a similar figure in designated zones. This is good for safety. It also adds cost. Together they can add sixty thousand dollars to a dwelling before a developer has engaged a council, a certifier, or a tradie. Sensible policy costs money. The money comes from somewhere. In housing, it comes from the price of the dwelling. The dwelling is unaffordable. The cause is negative gearing.
The solution is to build more houses. We are not building them because of landlords, developers, foreign buyers, immigration, councils, certifiers, tradies, materials, the NCC, and BAL requirements. The federal government is helping.