Here's a suggestion: why don't we take parasitical, rent-seeking leftist manipulators with clever ideas and IGNORE them.

The GFC was the result of forcing banks to lend on housing to unqualified applicants; and it was a disaster for the borrowers as well as the overall economy. The financial whizzes and bankers not only made a killing but were then bailed out at taxpayer expense.

Vacancy rates for properties are the rational choice of renters as well as owners. The baseline vacancy rate is the mismatch between what people are looking for and what is on the market. Long-term vacant properties are likely vacant for good reason - unfit for habitation, decontamination issues, just unattractive to rent, too high an asking price. So all those reasons will leave people exposed to punitive tax despite the fantasie'd eeeeevil capitalist gloating-motive for leaving imagined potential money lying there.

Then again, we already have a way of capturing taxes on the profits those capital-gain-seeking owners make. It's called capital gains tax, and funnily enough it raises the hurdle return for investment substantially, and thus reduces the reasons people have to build rental housing stock. No tax-free lunch for investors at all.

So thanks for the advice, my leftwitted friend; don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.

This article highlights the rot that is destroying the future of young Australians- high cost of housing and rents.

Baby boomers including myself could make hundreds of percent profit on the cheap houses we bought. Some of us are wealthy merely by good luck.

Many were aided and abetted by Keating's crazy negative gearing to encourage speculation on established homes. I'm glad to say I wasn't one of those.

- Abolish negative gearing on established homes for a start.

- Houses near transport developments such as railway stations should attract a zone rate surcharge to help pay off the infrastructure cost, which was paid for by the public purse.

Nothing has been done to redress the most pressing of social issues. Both major parties and even the Greens are gutless on the housing issue and we have the useless PUP and Lambie holding the balance of power and they are unlikely to do anything.

Why doesn't someone start an Affordable Housing Party focusing just on rent issues?? I would surely support them, for the sake of my daughter and grand-kids.

Behind his nastiness ChrisPer refuses to see Karl Fitzgerald is advocating a REAL property MARKET. Corner the market on tomatoes and hold a gun to peoples' head and the tomatoes will rot. Corner the motor vehicle market and demand ridiculous prices and cars will rust. Hold housing vacant as long as you like so that a land-hungry community HAS to meet your blackmail price and all is well. An all-in flat rate land tax will put an end to all these hold-outs by creating a genuine real estate market.

freddington
No-one's holding a gun to anyone's head you idiot - that's what you and the author are supporting.

Typical garble-brained leftist confusion.

On the one hand they support myriad laws all of which INCREASE THE COSTS AND LIABILITES AND RISKS of supplying housing, and then these complete morons advocate MORE, as a solution, and complain of the people on the receiving end of their blundering stupid violence as "holding a gun at people's heads".

It's like they have an active commitment to stupidity.

Ad hominem is no replacement for thought, Jard. If you knew your economics, you'd know because land tax can't be passed on it carries no deadweight as does Stamp Duty and the GST. That's probably why The [left-wing?] Henry Tax review suggested abolishing 120 taxes and replacing them all with the most efficient revenues, a mining tax and an all-in land tax. Clearly therefore, reformed and extended land taxes would make housing and development cheaper, not dearer, that is, in addition to bring about a GENUINE real estate market.

We can see in our own municipality the truth of this article. Even in our own street we have perfectly good housing bulldozed in order to replace it with McMansions, and foreign Chinese buyers force up the prices.
The property supplement confirms this - with real estate agents with panels of Chinese staff, and housing marked with how much land is available if it is pulled down and McMansions put up instead.
The estate agents profit, the developers profit, the McMansion owners profit. Their emphasis on Location shows how much their profit depends upon schools and public transport.