Australia's housing crisis has entered a new phase: a little less conversation, a little more action.
The first seeds were planted three years ago, with a landmark national agreement to build more homes. The target, 1.2 million in five years, is likely doomed. But what mattered was that a target was set at all. After years of lip service, leaders had promised to act on the root cause.
Then there was last year's economic roundtable. After much fanfare, the closed-door event had seemed like a fizzer. But for Treasurer Jim Chalmers, it helped build the case that Labor's old policy to wind back negative gearing could be reinvented, and framed as a leg up for home buyers over investors.
A policy to boost supply and a policy to slash demand. Throw in the highest interest rates in 18 years, and all of a sudden a housing market that seemed as if it would never turn is turning very fast indeed. This week saw the steepest drop-off in new home loans ever recorded.
Commentators had long wondered whether, for all the hand-wringing about the housing crisis, Australians would actually want a solution when it came, since, one way or another, cheaper homes for the young can only mean less valuable homes for those who already own them.
