Today Terry reacts to the recent media frenzy over the release of two documents on negative gearing and its impact on housing affordability. 

Both apparently claim that scrapping negative gearing tax benefits would have only a minor impact on home values but at the same time would bring about a major improvement in housing affordability.

Read more: Labor Should Scrap Its Gearing Policy

In this episode we cover:

• The problem with media reporting on housing affordability in Australia 

• Why the Melbourne University negative gearing study needs to be challenged over its methodology and assumptions

• Any analysis of some of the questionable claims from a half-finished research paper by Melbourne University economists

• Why a claim of a 30% reduction in supply would cause a rental rise of only 2.4 percent is unfounded

• A challenge to the claim that property values would fall only 1.2 percent but generate a massive rise in home ownership
  
• Other unsubstantial and false claims highlighted in the report such as only the “rich” benefit from negative gearing and the claim that 76 percent of households would be better off under the suggested policy changes

For more information:

Melbourne University negative gearing study needs to be challenged over its methodology and assumptions: Terry Ryder

Media Misleads on Monthly Data