In responding to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and Brotherhood of St Laurence Tax Expenditures &Housing Report, the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) says that the research fails to address the problem of housing supply.

“This report does not deal with housing supply and assumes that by addressing the demand side that this will solve the problem for many aspiring home buyers,” said REIA President, Mr David Airey.

“You cannot penalise current home owners by adding Capital Gains Tax (CGT) or Land Tax to solve the problem of a lack of supply,” continued Mr Airey.

THE COALITION nor the Greens will support a controversial proposed law, allowing the Parramatta City Council the right to purchase private land and transfer it to Melbourne-based developer Grocon, for a profit.

The Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Amendment Bill, proposed last month, would allow the council the right to acquire land owned by Ray Fazzolari and Michael Winston-Smith. The land would be used to develop the $1.4 million Civic Place development. The bill follows a High Court of Australia decision which prevented the council from increasing its Civic Place land parcel.

Compulsory acquisition powers was discussed at yesterday's shadow cabinet meeting.