Recent increases to Labor's nation leading property taxes are worsening Victoria's housing affordability crisis.
Labor's latest land tax increases, which came into effect on 1 January 2024, are directly flowing through to higher rents and causing many rental properties to be sold and taken out of the rental market.
Data released by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia reveals that 76 per cent of rental properties being sold are sold to owner-occupiers, which is reducing the supply of properties available in the rental market - a growing source of anxiety for the 2 million Victorians who rent.
Data from CoreLogic shows average rents hit a record high in February, jumping 10.8 per cent in Melbourne compared with a year earlier, to $574 per week - above than the nationwide increase.
Inner Melbourne renters are in the most vulnerable position in the country, with nearly 50,000 renters at risk of being priced out of the market.
Shadow Treasurer, Brad Rowswell, said: "Treasurer Tim Pallas said the increases to land tax would hit ''those most able to pay", yet Victoria's tenants are ultimately paying for Labor's financial recklessness and economic mismanagement.
"This spells danger for rental supply and affordability in Victoria and we need to provide incentives for property investors to develop residential housing stock. If we don't do this, the investment needed to get more homes built will continue to be lost to other states where conditions are more competitive."
Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability, Evan Mulholland said: "Renters are now paying the price for Labor's decade of reckless economic mismanagement.
"When Labor increases land tax, renters pay more. We need to make Victoria an attractive destination for investors to deliver the residential housing stock that Victorians need."
