Triguboff: The Market Has Turned, But Government Must Act

In the last three weeks, the market has improved. My advice is that if someone wants to buy, now is the time.

The banks, the government and purchasers cannot tolerate a weak market. We have never had it so weak. For the first time, the government and the banks are concerned.

For the market to improve more, the authorities must stop trying to charge as much as possible and keeping government costs so high. When the costs of building become too high, production falls. The government then collects less revenue and the banks finance fewer projects. In the end, everyone loses. This does not make sense.

Australia should be the most attractive country in the world. But instead of a booming property market, it is weak, because our rules make it impossible.

The standard of our units is among the best in the world. Of course, we can always improve, but those improvements must be reasonable and should not add significant costs to builders. There is no point demanding higher and higher standards if the cost makes them impossible to achieve.

Our Prime Minister wants to increase the housing production, but nobody in the government realize we need a booming market to achieve that, where many purchasers can buy, and builders are incentivised to build, because there are profits to be made. Instead, we reached a point where the production falls. So many builders have gone broke, investors are selling which will squeeze the housing supply more, so rents will rise further. The authorities must realize they need a booming market to achieve their goals, otherwise our industry will wither away.

We were once worried that we might have too many immigrants. Well, I believe the opposite is true. The more migrants who come to Australia to work hard, invest and build a life here, the more prosperous our country will become.

When prices were higher, migrants came with money or came prepared to work very hard. They bought homes, started businesses and contributed to our economy. In the past, many of our buyers came from China, but today they come from countries all across Asia and the rest of the world. Migrants do not come here to create a land of foreigners. They come here because they want to join us, work hard and make a better life. In doing so, they help us make Australia better.

When the newspapers print that the housing prices dropped, they say it like its good news. It is not.  When the market is weak, fewer apartments are built, investors receive very little return, and the government collects less revenue. We cannot keep increasing the cost of building and expect investors and builders to accept smaller returns. We either accept a more moderately priced product or allow investors and builders to make a reasonable profit, so we can increase the housing production.