Australian Housing Affordability Discussion

[RAM]

There seems to have been some 'correctness' in all of what has been written above as well as some errors.

Some maths will solve it...

9% of $900,000 is $81,000

So if the tax is 2.25%, 1/4 of 9%, so it would be 1/4 of $81,000 or $20,250 per annum which is pretty close to $400/week.

The weekender is becoming an expensive drain nearly as bad as those holes in the water, called boats I think!

 

[Happy Dude]

Well my in-laws are screwed. They have a weekender down on The Esplanade at Mt Martha. I'm guessing the land would be worth a mill or so. They're old and don't have much income. They'd hit the roof, then the wall, if they got a $20k land tax bill. Seems more than a little unfair if they had to sell.

 

[amaroo]

Well my in-laws are screwed. They have a weekender down on The Esplanade at Mt Martha. I'm guessing the land would be worth a mill or so. They're old and don't have much income. They'd hit the roof, then the wall, if they got a $20k land tax bill. Seems more than a little unfair if they had to sell.

Get used to it! Won’t be long before what’s theirs, yours, and mine will belong to everyone…. Won’t stop when you’re 6 foot under either…

 

[tgh]

very sad statement @amaroo

 

[love_the_life]

Wonderful Dan changed the land tax system in Victoria.It is not assessed on individual properties but on your total value of land holdings.so if you have a home in Melbourne valued at $2 million plus a holiday home on the coast you are very likely to be paying $400 a week in land tax-of course it is not all the holiday property.But instead of paying 0.2% of the value above 250000 they are now paying 2.25% on the whole value so if the value of the holiday home is $900000 then land tax of $20250 - close enough to $400 a week.
2018 Victorian Land Tax Assessments

My understanding is that the PPR is not included the land tax assessment (i.e in the taxable value of your property).
Edit - sorry - saw this has already been noted

 

[cove]

With the tumble in house prices on the east Coast it has made it a little easier for first home buyers. Not easy but a little easier in 2019.

 

[PDog]

There seems to have been some 'correctness' in all of what has been written above as well as some errors.

Some maths will solve it...

9% of $900,000 is $81,000

So if the tax is 2.25%, 1/4 of 9%, so it would be 1/4 of $81,000 or $20,250 per annum which is pretty close to $400/week.

The weekender is becoming an expensive drain nearly as bad as those holes in the water, called boats I think!

Hmmmmm..... that sounds kinda patronising? It’s not 2.25% if you are ‘only’ being billed on $900k. That rate doesn’t kick in until $3m

 

[cove]

Unfortunately our State Governments have figured out how to use all the GST money, payroll taxes, stamp duty and land taxes and are unable to balance their budgets in 2019-2020.
Don’t expect much State taxation relief regardless of whether house prices continue to tank.
Lower house prices should make it a little easier for first home buyers while mortgage interest rates remain in the 3.5% to 4.0% range.

 

[travelislife]

Hmmmmm..... that sounds kinda patronising? It’s not 2.25% if you are ‘only’ being billed on $900k. That rate doesn’t kick in until $3m

And that’s on land value only too! Which for these valuations is often under what you would get on market. So you are probably holding $5m+ of property in addition to your PPOR to be paying that much. So main people it is affecting to this level is those that own multiple million dollar ‘weekenders’ in Sorrento/Portsea.

 

[UP4014]

Unfortunately our State Governments have figured out how to use all the GST money, payroll taxes, stamp duty and land taxes and are unable to balance their budgets in 2019-2020.
Don’t expect much State taxation relief regardless of whether house prices continue to tank.
Lower house prices should make it a little easier for first home buyers while mortgage interest rates remain in the 3.5% to 4.0% range.

And don't forget the running out of things to sell to Macquarie Bank.

 

[cove]

Hang on BAM1748 if you cannot beat them you should join them. Macquarie shares are going pretty well as are Sydney Airport and Transurban. Dealing with government asset sales has been a good idea.
When Defence start selling off urban holdings there may be an opportunity for redevelopments for first home buyers.

 

[CaptJCool]

The trouble with government asset sales is

1. You rarely get to buy ‘em back
2. A company operates on a full profit model not a operational cost recovery model
3. This means significant price hikes for consumers
4. Once sold you book the capital gain in that year but there’s only the One spike. It’s NEVER repeatable
5. You keep giving when you refund franking credits

And when there’s nothing left to sell, you’re short on revenue and bankrupt of ideas and cash

Overall, it’s a titanic disaster at that point bordering on homelessness

 

[JohnK]

And when there’s nothing left to sell, you’re short on revenue and bankrupt of ideas and cash

Overall, it’s a titanic disaster at that point bordering on homelessness

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief how governments have been allowed to sell key assets.

And I'm afraid where this is heading....

 

[Flashback]

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief how governments have been allowed to sell key assets.

And I'm afraid where this is heading....

While it's going off-track slightly on a housing related discussion, have a look at the US for a good reason as to why it should happen. Airports are largely government owned/run as is security ....... look at the state of things there. The few that are privatised are definitely the nicer ones to use as a passenger.

 

[travelislife]

Well my in-laws are screwed. They have a weekender down on The Esplanade at Mt Martha. I'm guessing the land would be worth a mill or so. They're old and don't have much income. They'd hit the roof, then the wall, if they got a $20k land tax bill. Seems more than a little unfair if they had to sell.

The land tax on a $1,000,000 land holding for an Australian citizen who is a tax resident of Australia outside of your PPOR is only $2,975. Nowhere near $20k. It's not hard to check this stuff on the SRO site with their calculators.

 

[Moody]

New definition of the term "affordable" landed in my inbox today. A real estate agent sent me a reminder for an auction of an "Affordable entry-level home" with a price guide of $1.7M

 

[Happy Dude]

The land tax on a $1,000,000 land holding for an Australian citizen who is a tax resident of Australia outside of your PPOR is only $2,975. Nowhere near $20k. It's not hard to check this stuff on the SRO site with their calculators.

Absolutely correct, thanks. I was mislead by the conversation upthread.

On a related matter, is it legitimate to have a weekender in the spouses name as her PPoR, assuming she's not on the title of the marital home? Presumably this charade would involve utilities etc at the weekender in her name too?

 

[Hvr]

On a related matter, is it legitimate to have a weekender in the spouses name as her PPoR, assuming she's not on the title of the marital home?

And if the Tax office looks at her driver's licence etc where would it show she lives? Same with all her personal documents e.g. medicare card. Where does all her mail go? There may also be issues if you die before her and she wants to take over your suburban home and has to pay CGT and stamp duty before she gets the title.

It may affect her car insurance if she says "I live at rural address" but really lives at suburban address.

Does your health insurance say a couple has to live together to get a couple rate?

If she has another address will you still be considered married for other legal matters?

As always get professional advice and remember that trying to deprive the tax office of money is very hard. They have the resources and know where to look to make a case.

I'd suggest it might be more effort than it's worth.

 

[cove]

It is almost the weekend so there will be a lot more news about real estate sales tanking together with a few success stories.
Banks are starting to lend a bit more but with more analysis of buyers cost of living to see that the borrowers can meet the repayments.

 

[Happy Dude]

So there's been a rate cut last week bringing the rate to a new historical low. The Insiders this morning suggested that many will simply throw the savings on the mortgage thus defeating the purpose of the rate cute. Reflecting on @Franky's and @levelnine's passionate but off-topic postings in this thread, I was wondering just how bad is the economy, anecdotally and/or at ground level?

There have been regular stories on the ABC news website where various analysts provide graphs showing mortgage stress/delinquency, negative equity, etc etc are on the rise and predicting things to get worse as house prices decline even further. Plenty of doom and gloom in general.

But I keep waiting for the news story on the family that's had to sell or started a gofundme page to help with the increased mortgage payments as the fixed term ended and the cough banks started charging at P&I rates. Wasn't there supposed to be a large number of mortgage holders in such a position?

I may not have have a large or even varied circle of friends, and obviously I'm only viewing in from the outside, but I don't know anyone whose situation seems to indicate a 'struggle'. In fact, I know three people that have bought properties since the election. Only one complained of being put the ringer by the lenders. My facebook feed is constantly fed by friends on what must be expensive overseas holidays (no-one seems to holiday domestically anymore), checking into J lounges, and various other pursuits and activities that would generally indicate that belt-tightening is a long way off. I'm not spiteful towards these things btw, other than being jealous that it's not me, but I do wonder how it's afforded. As I say, outside looking in and perhaps the ducks feet are paddling madly beneath the surface.

So where are the stories of austerity to support the dire situation that economy is supposed to be in? Statistics and graphs tell the story but it doesn't seem that way in my little world. I don't know anyone that's been laid off or forced to sell their house. Maybe I should get out more. Or Is it too early for the effects to have trickled down?