Housing Minister Clare O\u2019Neil was forced to defend Labor\u2019s sweeping housing tax reforms against criticism they could destabilise the property market, insisting the changes are aimed at improving affordability and helping more Australians buy homes.<\/p>\n
Appearing on ABC\u2019s Insiders on Sunday, Ms O\u2019Neil pushed back on concerns the government\u2019s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax were already unsettling buyers and investors.<\/p>\n
The reforms, announced in the federal budget, have sparked fierce debate across the property sector, with business and real estate groups warning they could reduce investment, worsen rental shortages and place downward pressure on house prices.<\/p>\n
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By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Asked about forecasts property values could fall by as much as 10 per cent amid global volatility and interest rate pressures, Ms O\u2019Neil declined to speculate on where prices may head but rejected suggestions Labor\u2019s reforms were the primary driver.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I think there\u2019s a bunch of economic models out there that are in the news, and I\u2019ll let the modellers speak for themselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I can tell you is that the tax changes we\u2019re making in the budget are not the main driver of that. What house prices in our country move the biggest driver of them is what goes on with interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n Labor has argued the changes are designed to reduce investor advantages in the housing market and improve access for first-home buyers.<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neil pointed to Treasury modelling showing only a modest impact on prices.<\/p>\n \u201cTreasury has modelled the impact of our tax changes on house prices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a mild affordability impact, for that, we get 75,000 rental households into their own home, and a fairer market for housing in this country forever.\u201d<\/p>\n The minister also defended the government\u2019s first-home buyer support schemes after concerns were raised that falling prices could leave buyers who entered the market through the government-backed five per cent deposit scheme exposed to negative equity.<\/p>\n \u201cOur government is incredibly proud of this program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve now got $260,000 Australians into their own home, with the support and backing of an Albanese government that saw their aspiration and helped them realise it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neil said defaults linked to the scheme remained \u201cvanishingly small\u201d.<\/p>\n On rents, she rejected claims winding back negative gearing would worsen conditions for tenants, arguing increased housing supply would ultimately ease pressure on the rental market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe overall effect of the budget is actually to put downward pressure on rents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, what\u2019s gonna put the downward pressure on rent? Additional supply.\u201d<\/p>\n The Housing Minister backed Labor\u2019s decision to grandfather negative gearing arrangements for existing investors, despite criticism from housing advocates and the Greens who want the government to go further.<\/p>\n \u201cNegative gearing is a very immediate impact on a household and family budget,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not something that governments, when they\u2019re making tax changes, should do to interrupt people\u2019s immediate arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms O\u2019Neil also rejected Coalition claims migration was the dominant cause of Australia\u2019s housing challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cMigration\u2019s a piece of the puzzle here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the only or dominant thing that\u2019s driving our housing issues as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n She acknowledged consultation around the government\u2019s capital gains tax changes would need to continue, while signalling the government wanted certainty around the reforms sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that this gets resolved speedily,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n However, she stopped short of committing to a timeline for finalising the changes, saying the government would continue consulting with affected sectors before settling the final model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Housing Minister Clare O\u2019Neil was forced to defend Labor\u2019s sweeping housing tax reforms against criticism they could destabilise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60,1650],"class_list":["post-475560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}