New research showing fewer than half of Australians could own their own home by next year is proof policy settings on housing affordability and negative gearing are outdated, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said on Wednesday.
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The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia report found home ownership is increasingly out of reach for many Australians, with the number of owner-occupied houses falling by 3.5 percentage points or about 700,000 homes since 2001, and likely to fall further.
The report found fewer than half of Australian adults will own a home by next year, as rising property prices lock younger generations out of property markets.
The wealthiest households in 2016 are couples over the age of 65, a group experiencing a real increase in median net wealth of nearly 70 per cent since 2002.
Mr Bowen said Labor's election policies of winding back capital gains tax concessions and limiting negative gearing to new properties were better suited to contemporary Australia.
"We don't want to be a nation in which the great Australian dream of home ownership is a memory, not a reality," Mr Bowen said.
"We want young Australians, we want all Australians having the chance to buy their first home and to be on a level playing field with investors.
"There is nothing wrong with investing in property but governments have to ensure the policy settings are right."
Mr Bowen said the report showed the re-elected Coalition government needed to address current policy settings to help young home buyers enter the market.
"It's up to the government whether they want to drop their ridiculous scare campaign against Labor's sensible negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms or engage in real leadership in which young Australians and Australians aspiring to own a home will have a stake in our future," he said.
"It's about the Liberal Party woke up to the fact that aspiration is about owning your own home as well as growing wealth in other ways."
A future Labor government would work co-operatively with state and territory governments to end bottlenecks in housing supply.
"For the Commonwealth to wipe its hands and say it's all councils, it's all state is an abrogation of leadership," Mr Bowen said.
"We don't expect the Australian people to accept that from this government."
