Change would be positive for buyers
COOKTOWN t eachers Bridget Roberts and Herman Rijken are working towards a two-year plan to shift their budding family to Cairns.
Like aspiring homeowners all over Australia, negative gearing policies will be at the forefront of their minds at the ballot box.
“With any sort of negative gearing, it definitely invites the market to increase the price of houses,” Mr Rijken said.
“So you’ve got lots of buyers for a very limited number of properties.
“We would love to buy brand new, but that inflated process that everyone talks about makes it hard for us to get a decent sized deposit.”
The young couple want their five-year-old son William to know the security of having parents who own their home.
“We nearly had to change our situation on the fly recently and I was definitely scared about trying to find a rental property as a stopgap between getting a new house,” Mr Rijken said.
“I’m definitely leaning towards the Labor policy – anything that will drive prices down.
“Obviously owners don’t like that if they’re thinking of selling.
“But at the same time if everything keeps going up, even at our wage levels, we may never be able to own a home.”