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Policy Watch

Rent caps Australia: 80% back them, but what do they do?

A new poll says four in five Australians want rents capped or frozen. The harder question is who pays when supply tightens.
Policy Watch

WA pre-sale scheme: a $250m backstop shifts risk, not the bank test

A $250m fund aims to help WA apartment developers reach construction finance. Whether it adds homes depends on who ends up carrying the risk.
Policy Watch

Foreign investor property tax Victoria: Labor flags a review

Labor says it will review Victoria's two overseas-buyer taxes if re-elected. The harder question is whether that brings in new homes or just more bidders.
Policy Watch

Victorian reserve price laws: who gains when sellers show their hand

Some Melbourne vendors are already publishing reserves under new state laws. In a falling market, that could change who holds the power at auction.
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Policy Watch

Housing accord shortfall: 130,000 homes behind and an $11bn hole

Two years into the national housing pact, completions are barely above the prior period, and the missing stamp duty and GST lands on state budgets.
Policy Watch

Victoria land tax investors: a $984m revenue gap opens up

Victoria's Covid Debt Levy is collecting far less than Treasury expected, and a shrinking rental pool may be the reason.
Policy Watch

Victoria reserve price disclosure: what one $1.106m sale shows

A first-home-buyer couple outbid a buyer's advocate in Collingwood on day one of the new laws. One result is not a trend, but it shows where leverage may be shifting.
Policy Watch

Help to Buy Broker Access Widens, but Supply Is the Real Limit

A second lender will take Help to Buy applications through brokers from October. Whether that helps affordability depends on what sits at the cheaper end of the market.
Policy Watch

New Build Investment Tax Rules May Lift Prices, Not Supply

A tax carve-out favours new dwellings over established ones. Whether it builds more homes or simply bids up the same ones is the open question.
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Policy Watch

Property transparency laws launch with no clear access to promised data

New regulations promised buyers better information. Where to find it remains undefined.
Policy Watch

Auction reserve price Victoria rule: clearance risk in falling market

Melbourne's new seven-day reserve disclosure starts October 1 as clearance rates sit at 50% and prices slide 4.3% year-on-year.
Policy Watch

Housing supply infrastructure gap: why 1.2m homes won’t fix the problem

New dwellings are one thing. Schools, parks, roads and public transport to support them are another. The numbers don't add up.
Policy Watch

Property advisory risk: when governance fractures mid-transaction

A legal chief suing their own CEO raises a question most clients never ask upfront: what happens to your deal when the firm implodes?
Policy Watch

Rental listing regulations NSW stumble on enforcement gap

New disclosure rules target AI-altered property images, but the first enforcement attempt misidentified a real mural as digital fraud.
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Policy Watch

Social housing shortage Australia hits 190,000 as build rate falls 87% short of need

Australia adds 3,000 social homes a year but needs 23,000, the gap is widening and the pressure flows to private rentals.
Policy Watch

Construction labour shortage Australia: 141,000 workers short as unemployment rises

Unemployment's climbed to a five-year high, yet builders still can't fill sites. The gap is 141,000 workers now, forecast to hit one million by 2035.
Policy Watch

Short stay accommodation register SA: what it means for rental yields

South Australia wants to track every Airbnb and Stayz listing, and just closed a stamp duty workaround investors were using to avoid the bill.
Policy Watch

Suburban landbank unlocking: supply windfall or planning failure?

Decades-old inner-ring holdings could deliver thousands of homes under current zoning, but why weren't they built sooner?

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