The Andrews Labor Government today announced policies intended to boost housing supply and affordability in Victoria. It also announced a 7.5% levy on short-stay accommodation (SSA) , starting from 1 January 2025, which will affect more than 36,000 property owners (with half in regional areas).

First National anticipates this 'Airbnb tax' will drive some landlords back to long-term rental management through real estate agents and yesterday approached the media yesterday with prepared statements. These are intended to highlight the value provided by traditional real estate agencies like First National Real Estate, drive SAA landlords to your businesses and encourage prospective tenants to ask you to alert them to any new rentals coming off the short-term market.

Further Victorian Government announcements:

• The government will spend $2 million on a rental support package, introduce a portable rental bond scheme and extend notice to vacate periods to 90 days.
• It will unlock surplus land will see the government rezone public land to deliver 9000 homes across 45 sites.
• It will boost the homebuyer fund by $500 million. Under the scheme, the government takes a 25 per cent stake in homes.
• It will also change the type of home which requires a permit. Single dwellings on lots smaller than 300 square metres and not covered by an overlay will no longer require a planning permit.

Affordability announcements:

The government says to ease housing pressure, it needs to build 2.24 million homes by 2051, including a target of 425,600 across regional and rural Victoria. As a result the Government today signed the Affordability Partnership alongside the Property Council of Australia, Master Builders Victoria, the Urban Development Institute of Australia, the Housing Industry Association and Super Housing Partnerships.

The government says it will build 80,000 homes a year between now and 2034, with a focus on five strategies to improve housing supply:

• Good decisions, made faster: reforming Victoria’s planning system, clearing the backlog of planning permits, giving builders, buyers and renovators certainty about how long approvals will take – and a clear pathway to resolve issues quickly if those timeframes aren’t met
• Cheaper housing, closer to where Victorians work: unlocking new spaces to stop urban sprawl, building more homes closer to where people have the transport, roads, hospitals and schools they need and delivering vital, basic community infrastructure
• Changed renters’ rights: closing loopholes that drive up the cost of living for renters, giving tenants more certainty over their leases, living standards and finances, and resolving disputes faster to keep them out of VCAT
• More social housing: rapidly accelerating the rollout of social and affordable homes across Victoria and launching Australia’s biggest urban renewal project across Melbourne’s 44 high-rise social housing towers
• A long-term housing plan: delivering a long-term plan to guide how our state grows in the decades ahead, and reviewing the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to build a planning system that works with Victorians – not against them.