Home Property Australia Confidence boosts at a critical time

Confidence boosts at a critical time

  • July 09, 2019
  • by Ken Morrison

There’s little doubt that sentiment across the property industry has picked up since the federal election, as reflected in the latest ANZ/Property Council industry confidence survey for the September 2019 quarter. 

There’s been more positive news since the survey was published, including APRA’s decision to relax residential mortgage lending guidelines to better reflect current market conditions, as well as the passage of the Morrison Government’s big personal income tax cuts package. These are very welcome confidence boosts at a critical time for an Australian economy which should be performing better than it is.  

Businesses and investors make decisions based on the long term outlook. The Reserve Bank Governor has pointed to the importance of not just providing stimulus to the economy, but also making the structural reforms needed to promote investment, job creation and growth across the whole economy. That’s why various recent state budget decisions to increase land tax and foreign investor surcharges are short-sighted and self-defeating. 

There are still big challenges ahead for property and the economy more broadly. This also presents a great opportunity for the federal government to take the lead and put in place the policies that support our industry’s role in driving economic growth and creating strong communities. We’ll be back in Canberra in coming weeks to keep making the case.