[Cosmo]

No I wouldn’t downsize from a regional to a central city location but I don’t think that’s the point. Many people especially those who work in the cities would willingly do so and if the concept was extended to all State capitals it could have quite a positive impact on housing supply.
In regional towns entire old style shopping malls are vacant as businesses have moved to larger shopping centres or to peripheral shopping estates.
State governments could do far more in releasing land as new regional hospitals, courthouses, police stations, fire stations and ambulance stations are built and the old sites left vacant. Many railway yards have been vastly reduced in size and overseas this land has been eagerly redeveloped but little has been done here. The opportunities are vast, dwarfing the imagination of governments.

[Willfish]

At least part of the solution is painfully obvious, but politicians wont have a bar of it, neither will the well healed lobby groups of the wealthy. We didnt have a housing crisis before Covid, immigration almost stopped for 2 years, no significant increase in population, and now we have a housing crisis – a shortage of houses. This could only occur because the wealthier people (25% of rental properties are owned by 1% of property owners, according to ATO), who couldnt travel or spend their money elsewhere, bought an extra house, for a 6 weeks of the year holiday house or Airbnb. These houses disappear from the rental and housing market, and now become a tax dodge for the wealthy (thru negative gearing) 40% of the houses in our street in popular coastal town are now Airbnb, or holiday houses. Prior to Covid 10 to 20% of houses were. The solution? Get rid of negative gearing, and increase rates or taxes on houses that are not permanently occupied. Let me know which political party has got the guts to tackle that one?

[Author]

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