Auction clearance rates are plummeting in Australia’s major cities, forcing Tanya Plibersek to defend the government’s tax reforms this morning.
Plibersek was asked on Sunrise if first home buyers were the winners, but home owners were the losers. Property research firm Cotality reported a preliminary clearance rate of 47.3 per cent in Sydney, the lowest since 2020. In Melbourne, the clearance rate was 50.2 per cent, the lowest since the city was in lockdown in 2021.
It comes after Domain reported house prices falling in the major cities, including Sydney, where house prices could fall by $122,000 by 2027.
When asked on Sunrise if these downturns were what Labor wanted, Plibersek said things needed to change in Australia.
“If young people feel locked out of home ownership, as they have been, that really has an impact on the cohesiveness of our nation, so we are so pleased that first home buyers are back in the market, and they’re back in a big way,” she said.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan said there were auctions where no buyers showed up on the weekend.
“If we don’t have a healthy profit in property market everybody loses, our economy loses, first home buyers lose, home owners lose, everybody goes down,” he said.
