Housing market showing early signs of recovery

Australia’s father of urbanisation and boss of Meriton, the biggest property development company in Australia, Harry Triguboff says he is very happy to see some recovery in the housing market – although it is still early days.

“Of course, we still have a housing crisis because of shortage, but it is also very evident that federal and state governments are working better together,” Mr Triguboff says.

“But here in NSW particularly, it is essential that local government gets on board, especially in regards approvals.

“Both federal and local governments are accepting, and acting on, the need to be more commercial in their decision-making processes,” he says.

The governments aren’t being commercialised in the sense of being taken over by private interests. However, they are actively engaging in commercial activities and partnerships to achieve public policy goals and drive economic growth.

“I am hoping that the positive changes being made will help keep people in NSW,” Mr Triguboff says.

“The telltale sign with me is how many major sites I buy.  I had bought none in four years in NSW and then in the last twelve months alone, I have bought two.

“I would not have done that if I did not see positive change coming,” he says.

“We are doing very well in Queensland, but unfortunately, I think that is due to the number of people leaving NSW.

Mr Triguboff says that the reduction in vendor finance requests at Meriton is also a very good sign.

“This means the banks are now more approachable and lending more. This is a real sign of recovery,” Mr Triguboff says.

“The lower interest rates have certainly helped but you never quite know which way they will go. It definitely won’t be up, but they could hold and we won’t see as many cuts as we are hoping for,” he says.

Emblazoned across the front pages of both major Sunday newspapers on the weekend could also prove to be very positive for the NSW economy. On the front page of The Sun-Herald, “Chalmers: Let’s cut red tape to boost economy.” On the front page of The Sunday Telegraph, “23,000 free apprenticeships on offer in a bid to build more houses.”

The Sunday Telegraph carried an exclusive interview with state treasurer Daniel Mookhey written by Linda Silmalis and The Sun-Herald carried an exclusive story with federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers written by Shane Wright.

“Thousands of free construction training places will be offered by the Minns government as part of a record $3.4 billion package to fast-track a pipeline of tradies to tackle the critical housing shortage and modernise TAFE,” Silmalis said in her story.

She went on to say, “The package is the biggest investment in the sector in more than a decade…Declaring housing a key theme of his budget, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the package was designed to boost the number of tradies on the job sites in the short-term while ensuring a pipeline of workers in the future.”

The story written by Shane Wright from the Sun-Herald reads, “Treasurer Jim Chalmers has admitted left-leaning governments are strangling their own good intentions with bureaucracy, arguing it is time to deliver supply-side solutions to problems ranging from housing to renewable energy.

“Chalmers has demanded regulators oversee everything from the banking sector to consumer law identifying regulations that can be axed or simplified to cut costs and increase the pace of economic growth.”

“I still have a lot of land tied up waiting for approval yet the councils are still resisting. The quickest way, and the only way, to achieve more housing is to approve more development.  Federal and state governments are putting in the effort in to find resolutions, now the local councils must do the same,” he said.