Senator Pauline Hanson, a country leader, has banned foreigners from owning real estate and urged the federal government to lower immigration levels in order to tackle the current housing crisis.
of statement Hanson, announced on April 21, said Australia should follow the leadership of New Zealand and Canada.
“Many countries do not allow foreign ownership of land or homes, but they are open to foreign investors in Australia’s overheated residential real estate market,” Hanson said.
“New Zealand banned foreign ownership in 2018, and Canada has also introduced a ban for the last two years.”
She proposed that when dealing with foreign-owned real estate, the federal government would give the owner a 12-month grace period to sell the land or home.
At the same time, Hanson said the housing crisis was exacerbated as the federal government planned to bring more migrants to the country when housing was already scarce.
“Housing is so scarce that thousands of Australians are currently struggling to buy or rent homes, but from 2023 the government will accept 213,000 immigrants a year, exceeding Hobart’s entire population. “She said.
“We are already struggling to secure accommodation for people living in Australia and have failed, but the government has only added to these huge number of issues.”
Citing a survey by the Grattan Institute, she said she needed to build 100,000 new homes to accommodate the number of immigrants mentioned above.
In addition, she said the federal government should consider reducing the number of immigrants unless the state government reforms the planning system.
To reduce housing demand, Hanson proposed that the federal government reduce the number of immigrants to less than 100,000 a year.
She also emphasized that the current housing crisis requires coordination and leadership at the state and federal levels, both in terms of availability and affordability.
On the issue of affordable home prices, Peter Tulip, chief economist at the Sydney-based Independent Research Center, previously told The Epoch Times that the solution eases planning restrictions and allows builders to build more. He said it was to do so.
Taking the example of Japan, Tulip said that if Australia increased the supply of housing, prices would go down.
“For example, between 1990 and 2015, Japan increased housing stock per adult by 25% and reduced actual home prices by 35%,” he said.
“In contrast, Australian housing stock is struggling to keep up with population growth and our prices are skyrocketing.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s leasing crisis has already worsened, with national vacancy rates in March dropping to 1%, the lowest level since 2006.
Vacancy rates are close to zero percent in small capitals and below 2 percent in Sydney and Melbourne.
In addition, rent in the residential capital recorded an increase of 14.7%, while unit rent increased 11.2% in the last 12 months.
Housing experts emphasized that Australia needs an urgent solution.
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Alfred Bui is a Melbourne-based Australian reporter with a focus on local and business news. He is a former small business owner and holds two master’s degrees in business and business law. Contact him at [email protected]