Recently National Accounts data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that real net disposable income continues to fall. This has its repercussions on other sectors of the economy. Home values are appreciating at five times the rate of wage growth, which makes it increasingly difficult for new aspirants to break into the housing market. To provide a mechanism to taper the housing boom trajectory, while still allowing properties to appreciate in value, will be far more equitable for Australian society as a whole. If, as Malcolm Turnbull claims, fairness is a fundamental criterion of any economic reform, it makes sense that negative gearing needs to be modified. Compelling economic evidence shows that, in its present form, it distorts the housing market, allowing those who own multiple properties to vie in the same playing field as those who are still trying to buy their first home.  While leading Australian economists recognise that negative gearing causes real estate dissonance, it will take more than slogans, such as housing values will be “smashed”, to convince the people otherwise.

Frank Carroll