The report on the inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia has been returned with 16 recommendations with the goal of making the Australian Dream a possibility once more. 

The seven month parliamentary inquiry wrapped up this week, delivering both common and nuanced recommendations to counter what has been a long-standing housing crisis. 

Regional areas, including our own communities across the Western Plains, are not immune from the pressures that limited housing stock and climbing rents are placing on families, businesses and services.

Chair of the Committee Jason Falinski MP said home ownership is a crucial step towards wealth equality, mental health, childhood outcomes and democratic stability. 

“At the end of our months-long investigation, it does need to be reasserted that our nation was founded to be a classless society in which everyone got a chance to own their own home,” Mr Falinski said. 

As housing prices climb with demand, the image of a classless society slips further from the grasp of Australian hands. 

Many experts have pointed to supply as the main issue, with outdated houses made redundant for purchase, and investors having a stronghold over the market. 

Recommendations from the inquiry include increasing urban density, delivering grant schemes to localities for delivering more housing supply, and facilitating private sector partnerships to deliver discount-to-market rent-to-own affordable housing. 

Rent-to-own businesses already exist on a small scale in Australia, where businesses will buy the house for the potential homeowner, allowing them to live in it until an agreed upon price is paid in rent for the ownership. 

A key recommendation that could see more people eligible for homeownership is the allowance of first home buyers to use their superannuation balance as collateral for a home, without using the funds themselves as a deposit.

‘The primary driver of growing house prices is the lack of market response. We need to reform broken planning systems, fix inefficient regulation, and stop new home buyers unfairly bearing the brunt of taxes and charges that are designed to raise funds, not living standards,” Mr Falinski said. 

In a submission to the inquiry, the Real Estate Institute of Australia recommended that stamp or transfer duties - the 4 per cent (on average) tax attached to the price tag of a new home - be removed. 

“This would improve both supply and affordability over the long term,” the report noted. 

The concept follows a proposed tax reform to remove stamp duty on houses, instead introducing an annual land tax that would supposedly make homeownership more affordable. 

Under the proposal, owner-occupied residential properties will pay a $400 fixed fee each year, while investor-owned residential properties will be subject to a $1500 fixed fee.

The report has been tabled in parliament and is available on the inquiry website.