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Jessica Darnbrough
The Federal Government’s carbon tax plan has been slammed by industry commentators, with the package being labelled “painful”.
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Yesterday the Gillard Government unveiled its carbon price and compensation package on national television.
But Real Estate Institute of Australia acting president Pamela Bennett said the package “forgot home buyers”.
“The cost of construction of new housing is expected to increase by around $5000 on a new home according to initial estimates which can be expected to flow on to the price of existing homes,” Ms Bennett said.
“The cost of undertaking renovations for existing home owners will also increase with the average kitchen and bathroom renovation to increase by around 2 per cent.”
Housing Industry Association chief executive Graham Wolfe agreed with Ms Bennett and said the carbon package would have “painful and widespread repercussions”.
“Housing affordability is already at a distressing level, new housing supply is well below underlying demand and housing activity is declining to mid-1990’s levels,” Mr Wolfe said.
“Families buying a new home will now face additional building costs and higher mortgage repayments.”
“New housing is already designed and built to meet stringent energy regulations that make them substantially more energy efficient than existing homes. Lifting the cost of new homes further through a new tax, without any benefit at all to the individual home buyer makes no sense.”
Mr Wolfe said the package would also result in fewer jobs in Australia’s residential building sector and building product manufacturing sector.
“Tens of thousands of trade exposed manufacturers have been forgotten or ignored in the announcements,” he said.
“What we need are policies to place new energy efficient housing within reach of the average home buyer and to provide incentives for current home owners to make their homes more energy efficient.”
