Housing: The government’s first priority post-election

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Treasurer Jim Chalmers says those concerns and the global economic uncertainty will be a priority of the government’s second term. As Alan Kohler explains, there are economic challenges at home that could prove more pressing.

Transcript

00:00The election campaign started with housing but drifted down to the petrol station and

00:14then the shopping centre.

00:15But on May the 5th, when the streamers have been swept up and the Star Wars DVDs are back

00:20in the cupboard, it'll be back to housing, and here's why.

00:25The average house to income ratio is back to a record high of eight times, more than

00:28double what it was 25 years ago, and more than half the average income is now required to

00:34service a new mortgage.

00:37These things make housing Australia's most pressing problem.

00:41Check this out.

00:42It's the total value of dwellings compared to GDP in Australia, the UK, Canada and the

00:47United States.

00:48It's even more striking when you compare the value of housing to gross household disposable

00:53income.

00:54Now election promises designed to help some first home buyers get around this won't cut

00:59it now.

01:01This is now about the hard, unglamorous and thankless grind of government, spending the

01:07next three years buried in the weeds of construction, infrastructure, local councils, immigration

01:14and tax.

01:15Income tax cuts, some of the budget repair that we've done, the big investments in housing,

01:19the energy transformation and particularly in healthcare.

01:23This is an ambitious government and we're looking forward to implementing the agenda that we

01:27took to the election.

01:28And while half the cabinet is doing that, the other half will need to do the other big thing.

01:32Productivity.

01:33Here's a reminder of that.

01:35The productivity deficit has a lot to do with having so much of our money sitting in unproductive

01:39housing.

01:40But it's not just that.

01:42Fixing Australia's productivity will also be hard, unglamorous and thankless.

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