My friend Matt Lloyd-Cape just released his book, Our Place, about the story of housing in Australia.
Our views on housing differ somewhat, which made for a more interesting chat.
Though we both arrive at similar conclusions about the need for government and non-market housing if we want to make large changes to housing outcomes, we disagree about the extent and effectiveness of interventions in the markets.
For example, Matt favours financial subsidies in the form of publicly provided discounted mortgages, which can give households who qualify a leg. I see that as just another cash subsidy (which rises in value with the value of the home you buy) which is hidden by being amortised in the form of a cheaper mortgae. We already have cash subsidies in Australia for first home buyers in the form of cash grants and discounted stamp duty (which has the same net effect). Do we need or want more? I don’t know.
You can read an extract of the book here, and buy the book at Amazon here.
Matt will be speaking at two upcoming evens in Melbourne (21st Oct) and Adelaide (5th Nov), so if you are interesting want to catch him speak and chat about housing, I recommend getting to one of those events.
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