DAVID BARE HIA Executive Director – NSW in attendance at the luncheon will long doubt and uncertainty, which in turn erodes Inconsistent Messaging on remember being told they had lost their confidence in our industry and in the minds Housing Supply Creates moral license to build and needed to bring of voters. The market has been in decline Uncertainty the local communities with them. Ahh… for the last 18 months in NSW but the Since Premier Berejiklian announced no minister, leadership and setting the relatively modest supply targets need to be improving housing affordability as her vision and rules about achieving that vision maintained to meet underlying demand into number one priority when she took office, advocated by your government for the last the future. the NSW Coalition Government has claimed seven years is your job, as is effectively NSW is facing a massive reduction in increasing housing supply as the most selling that message to local communities. duties revenue, traditionally the largest important factor. This very point was made by an astute source of state tax revenue. The State In an amazing back flip the Premier HIA member on the day in response to the Budget wrote down revenue from duties and her Minister for Planning and Housing minister’s speech. by $5.5 billion and the half yearly budget (Anthony Roberts) are suddenly advocating Clearly this change in stance is at odds revised revenue down even further to a total a reduction in development and at the with the Government’s own housing supply same time a reduction in immigration plans and targets developed over their IT KEPT TAXING WHAT levels. This about face was announced at term of government. So what is anyone IT SAW AS A NEVER-ENDING an HIA luncheon where Minister Roberts to make of this? Do years of advocating CASH COW – A BOOMING aggressively took aim at the very sector housing supply as the solution to the that has delivered enormous wealth affordability issue gets wiped away when RESIDENTIAL and prosperity to the state. His speech, a few bumps appear in the road to a State CONSTRUCTION SECTOR. simultaneously leaked to the news media Election? The NSW Government has much HIA WARNED THAT WHEN and published on the Department of to be proud of, delivering the greatest Planning website (albeit for a few short infrastructure investment we have seen and THE TIDE IN THE MARKET hours) signalled that the Government was low unemployment. However inconsistency TURNED, MANY OF THESE giving in to the NIMBY minorities. Those in messaging from our leaders creates DECISIONS WOULD COME BACK TO BITE THE NSW ECONOMY... of around $8billion over four years due to the downturn in the residential construction market in NSW. In many respects this situation is one of the government’s own making. It kept taxing what it saw as a never ending cash cow – a booming residential construction sector. HIA warned that when the tide in the market turned, many of these decisions would come back to bite the NSW economy. We saw foreign investors taxed out of the market, a continued determination to add enormous cost and erode affordability by ever increasing regulation and taxation on our industry, capitulation to NIMBY rhetoric on overdevelopment and P6 BUILDING NEWS ISSUE 1/2019 EVITUCEXEROTCERID