Experts have proposed taxing Australians on their spare bedrooms.
Proposed by an Australian think-tank, a tax on unused bedrooms is aimed at fixing Australia’s supposed “housing crisis”
Off Guardian reports: The thinking is simple: There are many people, mostly older couples whose children have left home, living in family-sized homes with one or more bedrooms sitting empty. If the state were to impose a tax on unoccupied bedrooms, whilst abolishing stamp duty, they will incentivise those people to sell their family homes and downsize, thus freeing up homes for young families looking to buy.
But is that really how it would work?
Of course not.
What will happen is that newly incentivized sellers will bump up against hedge funds and private equity firms who are willing to pay 10-20% over market price. I covered this back in my 2021 article What’s REALLY behind the war on home ownership?
The incipient “Great Reset” is a multi-faceted beast. We talk a lot about vaccine passports and lockdowns and the Covid-realated aspects – and we should – but there’s more to it than that.
Remember, they want you to “own nothing and be happy”. And right at the top of the list of things you definitely shouldn’t own, is your own home.
The headlines about this have been steady for the last few years, but it has picked up pace in the wake of the “pandemic” (as has so much else). An agenda hidden on back pages, behind by Covid’s meaningless big red numbers, but perhaps no less sinister.
It has been progressing steadily since then. By December 2022 private equity firms were accounting for almost 30% of home purchases in the united states. BlackRock et al. are projected to own around 40% of American homes by 2030.
It’s no different in other countries around the world. Canada is following the US pattern, whilst private equity already own an estimated 37% of single family homes in Germany.
In the UK, 2024 saw private equity firms invest £1.5billion in single family homes, with Blackstone buying over 4000 of them alone. According to the New York Times, US investment firms are already Madrid’s biggest landlord.
Australia notionally moved to prevent this, imposing a two-year ban on foreign investors purchasing property earlier this year, but that doesn’t apply to Australian private equity firms.
All the while, the press are publishing articles like this one…
Renting vs. buying: Is renting for life really that bad?
Or this one…
10 Reasons Why Renting Could Be Better Than Buying
The agenda is pretty obvious. And if the bedroom tax becomes a reality, we’ll all know why.