ANZ calls for a rethink on higher-density housing

The main markets of Sydney and Melbourne should be treated differently to the rest of the country in certain aspects, said ANZ in its submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into home ownership. This could extend to measures such as requiring larger deposits for greenfields developments to reduce risk for developers.

The bank's commentary outlining how and why the mismatch in supply and demand are the fundamental drivers of price rises in Sydney and Melbourne have been part of an argument that ANZ has been keen to re-iterate for several years. What is new are the detailed suggestions on what needs to be done at several crucial bottlenecks on the supply chain.

Briefly, ANZ said it believed "the policy response to home ownership and affordability pressures should focus on those urban centres where housing prices are increasing most rapidly. For example, priority should be placed on improving long term delivery of transport and development infrastructure, making land available, and speeding up development processes."

After analysing these pressures in detail, along with the need for more medium density housing to match the growing numbers of first home buyers and downsizers, ANZ then turned its attention to the problem of "sustainability of the supply chain."

More specifically, in ANZ's view there is a strong case to review laws governing presale contracts for larger scale developments, primarily apartment complexes, to provide a more balanced allocation of risk between buyers on one side with that taken on by developers and sellers on the other.

The bank's submission raised the question of whether a ten per cent deposit for off-the-plan developments was sufficient guarantee against the buyer deciding not to complete the contract - and if so, was that one factor in the shortfall of housing stock.

"To protect the industry against a downturn in Melbourne or Sydney, consumers should carry more of the risk. This is likely to lead to increased funding availability, reduced funding costs and earlier funding of projects," ANZ said.

Its submission also looked at deposit affordability, which has decreased in recent years, and other underlying elements of housing affordability, which the bank said was logically correlated with home ownership.

ANZ concluded by suggesting that stamp duty be included in the government's tax policy review, as these are "widely recognised as economically inefficient taxes … because they raise the cost of consumer and business transactions."