There are not enough homes to house Australians, says Stuart Ayres | The Business | ABC NEWS

The chief executive of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, Stuart Ayres responds to the Coalition's plan to link migration to new home building. In his budget reply speech, opposition leader Angus Taylor has responded to the Federal Government's tax reform on negative gearing for new properties only and the scrapping of the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount, with a proposal to match immigration to the number of homes built in any given year. Based on last year’s figures of 175,000 homes built and net migration at 306,000, the Coalition plan would see migration cut almost in half. Stuart Ayres says "the main challenge we have in Australia is we just simply don't have enough homes to house Australians that exist in Australia today." He also says "anything that puts more demand pressure into that system puts more strain on housing." Stuart Ayers says there's enough local demand currently, reducing migration won't move the dial dramatically. He thinks construction costs and worker shortages are an issue, saying we need to make "sure we fast track people who come from overseas with skills and qualifications into the Australian trade framework so they can get on to building sites and start building more homes."

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