June 16, 2026 — 8:00pm
Cathy Wilcox To submit a letter to The Age , email letters@theage.com.au . Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.
PROPERTY
House prices are coming down (″ ANZ and NAB join the chorus line on falling house prices ″, 16/6). I thought that was the idea because the ridiculous prices had got out of hand and the taxation changes announced in the federal budget were made to hopefully help first home buyers. I call the changes a success. Patricia Norden, Middle Park
Property investment market ride I own two investment residences in Perth, and I’d welcome a 10 per cent fall in their market value. House prices are just ridiculously high. It also wouldn’t affect me – I own two investment properties (bought before the price fall) and I would still own two investment properties after the fall. It also would reduce my net ″wealth″ but I make it a principle never to spend wealth, only income, such as the rent from my tenants who are paying significantly below market rents. Wayne Robinson, Kingsley, WA
Tax change what the doctor ordered Well done prime minister and treasurer. House prices are falling and the banks are screaming because investor interest in further borrowings is cooling. Just what the doctor ordered – or what an overwhelming number of commentators and potential home buyers have been pleading for. Let’s not forget that house prices have risen about 60 per cent in the last decade* (which includes – as with all types of investments – two years of falling prices in 2018 and 2022). The government’s job now is to explain this good news story to voters rather than allowing it to be hijacked by big business (only interested in their bottom line) and political opponents (whether they be inexperienced wannabes or discredited has-beens) in their attempts to further unsettle voters at a time of national and international uncertainty. Peter Thomson, Brunswick
What economics experts called for The article ″One in three like Labor’s budget. Taylor has other reasons to hope″(16/6) in which only a third of Australians thought the budget would be good for Australia is very concerning. For years now, people who study economics have called for taxation reform. At last, we had a government who have acted on this advice, but many of our fellow Australians disagree. I despair for the future of Australia when so many people vote according to polarising social media news and emotion rather than a balanced appraisal of the information. Michael Weadon, Ballarat
Pity home owners with negative equity About 250,000 Australians have now entered the property market using Labor’s 5 per cent deposit scheme. It would be interesting to poll them as to whether they are happy with Jim Chalmers’ budget which has resulted in many of them now having negative equity in their homes. I dread to think of the consequences if these borrowers become unemployed and are forced to sell their homes for less than what they paid and owe on them. William Holmes, Kew
More scrutiny needed Our political pundits scrutinise our major political parties within an inch of their lives. I’m left to ponder how popular One Nation would be currently if the same blow torch was applied to it. Phil Alexander, Eltham
Let me ask all the whingers bleating about the changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and negative gearing if that was the only reason they voted for Labor at the last election? My guess is no, because people vote on balance for a range of policies and perceived ability to lead and manage the country successfully for the longer term. Labor did not have a policy or promise on reducing fuel excise, but did so because it was beneficial for the country, despite the hit to revenue. How many of the tax malcontents refused to fill up their cars because of that? A democracy is supposed to be about “Us”, “Us”, “Us” and not about “Me”, “Me”, “Me”, so just get over it and start thinking about people other than yourself for a change. Mark Kennedy, Sebastopol
Modest tax changes Those who peddle trite, trivialising comments such as ″politics of envy″ might like to consider the ‘politics of jealousy’, in the sense of, for example, jealously guarding privileges that were afforded to them but perhaps never justified in the first place: CGT discounts, for example. No one who legally took advantage of the benefits of CGT discounts and negative gearing is having the rug pulled out from under their feet. The necessary yet modest changes to these structures are to reverse the damage done and to correct a grossly unfair system that pitched seller and investor against home buyer, with the deliberate end goal of driving house prices and rentals up, now beyond what ‘ordinary people’ can afford. I am all for investment that provides funding and fair reward, but that should not extend to unfairly burdening others. Emma Borghesi, Rye
THE FORUM
Enough…
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