Cut stamp duty

We’ll bring down the cost of buying a home by introducing an ultra-wealth tax and using it to cut stamp duty for ordinary Australians.

Stamp duty is a huge upfront cost that makes it harder to buy, move or downsize. You shouldn’t have to drain your savings to pay a tax bill before even getting your keys. The Greens will create a system that’s fairer, simpler and built for people, not for profits

The Greens will abolish stamp duty for homes worth less than $1.1 million, and discount stamp duty for homes between $1.1 million and $1.6 million.

We are in a housing crisis and need this solution now. In the long term, we need to transition away from stamp duty, to a broad based contribution based on the value of the property, which makes it easier and cheaper to buy your first home and to move when you need to.

Our stamp duty cuts will be paid by taxing ultra-wealthy property investors and the big banks.

Ultra-wealth tax

For too long, ultra-wealthy property investors have had tax breaks and concessions while most people struggle to afford a home to live in.

We’ll stop home hoarding by introducing an Ultra-Wealth Tax for the wealthiest property investors.

The Ultra-Wealth Tax will increase land tax for property investors who own more than $5 million in residential investment properties. It will increase the base rate for portfolios of $5 million and over to $100,000, and the rate for any amount above $5 million to 5.3%.

This will raise approximately $2 billion over the next four years, and will go towards cutting stamp duty for ordinary Victorians. 

Build, don’t demolish, public housing

No matter who you are, or where you come from, you deserve a safe and affordable place to call home.

Public housing provides that genuinely secure and affordable safety net for those who need it.

But Labor plans to demolish all 44 public housing towers in Victoria and hand valuable public land to property developers for private profit. The Greens have been fighting alongside public housing communities to save their homes while Labor tries to destroy them. 

The Greens will make sure there are public homes for everyone who needs one.

• We will more than double the number of public homes by building 88,000 new homes, and maintain and upgrade existing public housing.
• We will make an initial commitment of $4 billion towards building, maintaining and upgrading public housing, with more invested over time.

Abolish street auctions

Buying a home shouldn’t feel like a high-pressure spectator event where the rules are hidden and buyers are set up to lose.

The Greens will replace a stressful, opaque system with one that’s simple, fair, and transparent. 

• Abolish street auctions
  Street auctions are designed to create panic and push prices higher. The Greens will get rid of the street theatre of auctions so buyers can make calm, informed decisions, not snap bids under pressure.
• Fixed prices and full transparency 
  Every home will have a clear price with the reserve disclosed upfront at the point of advertising. No more underquoting, guesswork or wasted weekends chasing homes you can’t buy. We’ll also require real estate agents and buyers’ agents to declare a fixed fee, not as a percentage of the final sale price, removing their incentive to push prices higher.
• Stop wasting buyers’ money
  The Greens will make sellers pay for building reports, pest inspections and energy efficiency reports, so you don’t spend thousands on properties you never secure.

Right now, the housing market is designed to push prices up. We’ll rebalance the system so you get a home sooner and cheaper. No more stressful street auctions, no hidden prices, no wasted money. Just a home you can afford.

Make developers provide affordable housing

Solving the housing crisis means making developers build their fair share of genuinely affordable homes.

For decades, state governments have tried to convince us that boosting private supply is the only solution to the housing crisis. They have weakened planning rules and community involvement in shaping their neighbourhoods.

But this approach has failed. Our housing system favours billionaire developers building private, expensive investment properties, not the affordable supply we need. 

Any plan to increase private supply must include mandatory quotas of public and genuinely affordable housing.

The Greens will increase the supply of affordable housing by:

• Requiring a minimum of 30% genuinely affordable housing in new private developments of 15 units or more across the state
• Prohibiting the sale or lease of public housing land to private developers, or the construction of private homes on public land.
• Legislating a definition of “affordable” that keeps rent within 30% of the tenant’s income, not tied to the market.

End homelessness within 10 years

There are 30,000 people experiencing homelessness in Victoria on any given night.

Demand for housing support is so high that housing and homelessness services are having to turn people away. Victoria has the least amount of public housing and spends the least out of all the states and territories.

Homelessness is solvable and the simplest and most effective way to end homelessness is to provide enough affordable, secure housing for everyone. 

The Greens would also:

• Legislate a goal to end homelessness by 2036
• Introduce the right to housing in Victoria’s Human Rights Charter
• Guarantee long-term funding for homelessness services and funding for specialised housing for high-risk and vulnerable cohorts.
   

Make housing a human right

Successive governments have treated housing as an investment opportunity, giving incentives and concessions to those who want to use housing to grow their wealth, at the expense of everyone else.

But housing is fundamental to human dignity, health, education, employment and community participation, and it should be treated as a human right. 

The Greens will enshrine the right to housing in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights, so that Parliament, public authorities and courts have a responsibility to uphold and respect everyone’s right to a secure, accessible, affordable home.

Abolish property investor subsidies

Corporate landlords and property developers get huge tax concessions from the government.

Some developers get a 50% land tax discount and full exemption from the 4% Absentee Owner Surcharge for 30 years. On top of that, they don’t always pay the usual developer contributions for local infrastructure like parks, community services, active and public transport.

The Greens would end the BTR land tax and absentee owner exemptions and put money back into local communities for the things we need. 

Converting Airbnbs into homes for people to live in

The Greens have fought to free up homes for people to live in, not to be used as hotels on the short-stay accommodation market.

Just this term the Greens secured a short-stay accommodation levy, the power to prohibit short-stays in apartment buildings, and laws that are currently being developed to allow councils to ban, regulate or impose conditions on short stays in their area.

When our short-stay laws come into effect, we will work with local councils to ensure that they result in more homes for people to live in, more affordability and neighbourhoods for people, not for profit.

Read more

• The Greens plan: Cap Rents and make renting fairer