Christies Beach 
The Professionals group is pleased to see the pre-budget submission from the Real Estate Institute of Australia includes the following points:
– review the amount of the First Home Owner Grant annually to maintain relativity with house price movements
– allow first home buyers access to their superannuation for the purchase of a home
– retention of current arrangements for negative gearing of property investments
– no increase in Capital Gains Tax on property investments
– abolish stamp duty on property transactions in favour of an efficient source of revenue for states and territories
– improve the supply of housing for social housing tenants transitioning to private rental by utilising private investment
– monitor HAF and NRAS to observe its effects on housing supply and to conduct a review which considers additional measures to bridge the demand/supply imbalance
– ensure the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) funding is adequate to ensure nationally approved quality standards are met for vocational education and training.
– ensure the availability of reliable data on housing demand and supply to formulate appropriate policies and to monitor their effectiveness.
– All states and territories uphold the initial intent of the Intergovernmental Agreement in Federal Financial Relations Schedule A, that assistance to first home buyers will be “uniform” and that “an eligible home will be new or established.”
“We are pleased to see the priority on urging the Government to act on housing affordability and to stem the rapid decline in the number of first home buyers,” said Professionals CEO, Ted Piteo.
“The number of first home buyers is at historically low levels across the country.”
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