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Archived news for 2007 | Recent news
To lower the cost of housing, cut the red tape
The ALP's proposed tax concession for first-home buyers who have saved for a deposit may merely offset part of the excessive house prices they...
Government has levers to increase land supply, improve housing affordability
With Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's pledge to "unlock" federal land for housing, the election campaign has already claimed one policy victim....
Land controls at heart of housing crisis
House prices are a top priority for most Victorians. This is hardly surprising since the family home is the most important investment nearly all of...
Lucky, or another whiteboard?
One thing that stands out about Kevin Rudd is that he has a tidy mind. He likes to have his policy expenditure in nice round figures. Thus we have...
Put the house price myths out to pasture
The Labor Party will hold a conference to finalise its housing policy in Canberra on Thursday. Some people claim that the current high house prices...
Give me land, lots of land ... the housing will follow
The Labor Party has claimed the federal government is causing housing unaffordability or mortgage stress. They claim this is created by high...
The snobbery of Melbourne 2030
Suddenly politicians have discovered our housing unaffordability "crisis". They ask themselves why, if the economy is booming, are homes so...
Policy builds on irrationality
On Monday, Labor leader Kevin Rudd released the document New Directions for Affordable Housing. This rejects the best solutions for an affordable...
Federalism could open locked land
State Governments used to have purchasing preferences to advantage local suppliers. Such measures added needless costs and were always of dubious...
How to slash housing cost
In the bad old days state governments' purchasing policies advantaged local suppliers by granting them preferential treatment. Such measures were...