Industry Super chief economist, Dr Stephen Anthony, has proposed that affordable housing tax credits could be the missing link in resolving Australia’s housing affordability crisis.
Anthony said the tax credits would allow institutional investors to write down or write off every dollar invested without impacting vital rate-of-return benchmarks upon which project viability often rests.
The national shortage of sub-market rentals and emergency housing is now 350,000, and in NSW and Victoria, 40 to 60 per cent of urban households are locked out of rental markets, he said.
Housing distress leads to homelessness, wage stagnation and welfare dependency - and the productivity loss levies an economic burden on all levels of government, Dr Anthony said.
Jim Chalmers has defended changes to the Future Fund’s mandate, referring to himself as a “big supporter” of the sovereign wealth fund, amid fierce opposition from the Coalition, which has pledged to reverse any changes if it wins next year’s election.
In a new review of the country’s largest fund, a research house says it’s well placed to deliver attractive returns despite challenges.
Chant West analysis suggests super could be well placed to deliver a double-digit result by the end of the calendar year.
Specific valuation decisions made by the $88 billion fund at the beginning of the pandemic were “not adequate for the deteriorating market conditions”, according to the prudential regulator.