The nation’s big four banks, superannuation funds and other institutional investors will be brought in by the federal government to help boost finance for social and affordable housing under a plan revealed by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Speaking in Brisbane, Chalmers said the finance sector would be a key part of a series of roundtable discussions aimed at sharply increasing the amount of investment in areas of national importance.
Chalmers said with the federal budget under increasing stress, boosting the amount of investment in key areas of need could not solely come from government and taxpayers.
He said in affordable housing, for example, there was scope for collaboration with private investors and institutions.
“Opportunities for profitable investment in national priorities exist. We just need to work together to make them happen,” Chalmers said.
“In the world we’re in, with growing social need and tightening fiscal constraints, there’s a call for all of us to develop more creative solutions.”
A parliamentary committee headed by Liberal MP Jason Falinski this year found that a “Gordian knot” of regulation, central planning, “officious” regulation and high taxes and charges imposed on new home buyers had helped make Australian property some of the most unaffordable in the developed world.
It backed higher housing density around transport hubs, payments to state governments to boost supply, and encouragement of the abolition of state-based stamp duty.
Separate research by the Prosper economic think tank found that land-banking by developers on the fringes of the nation’s largest cities had cost home buyers $5.9 billion over the past decade.
Chalmers said that between November this year and September in 2023, the government would host “investor roundtables” with a focus on different areas of national priority investment. A roundtable will be held every three to four months, with the first to be on social and affordable housing.
He said the focus would be on finding opportunities that interest investors and boosting the level of investment.
The chief executives of the big four banks would be among 20 “core participants” in the roundtable, along with the heads of large super funds.
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Banks and super funds to work on national affordable housing plan (Sydney Morning Herald)
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Jim Chalmers /jimchalmers.org
