No hard landing for Aussie housing: Treasurer Scott Morrison

Australian Financial ReviewOct 12 2017 10:39 PM

Phillip Coorey

Treasurer Scott Morrison has reassured US financiers that Australia's high housing prices are "real" and not in danger of crashing any time soon.

In a speech overnight in New York to Citigroup, the Treasurer said although house prices in the nation's largest cities had grown strongly over the past decade, there was no evidence of any underlying weakness in values "nor that a hard landing for our housing markets is ahead".

"Australian housing values, while high, are still real. Safe as houses still broadly means something in Australia," he said.

"The rise in housing values has been driven principally by genuine economic forces of supply and demand, where mortgages are subject to full recourse finance, supported by a strong, stable and resilient banking system and world's best practice credit standards.

"Low or no doc loans that crippled US housing markets are a rarity in Australia. House price growth in Australia has and always will be a basic lesson in supply and demand."

Moderating investor demand

Mr Morrison claimed victory so far in moderating investor demand through restrictions on interest-only loans imposed by the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority (APRA).

He said since capping such loans, investor lending had moderated, growing at just 0.4 per cent in August, the slowest growth in 17 months.

Mr Morrison was citing the Reserve Bank of Australia's financial aggregates, which examine investor housing credit growth.

At the same time, however, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported loans to housing investors rose at their fastest pace in nine months in August, pushing total lending to a new monthly high.

The 4.3 per cent increase in lending commitments to investors was the biggest gain since November last year.

Mr Morrison told Citigroup that "APRA's measures, which have the full support of the government, are working to smooth the landing in our housing markets".

Message on economy

More broadly, he used the occasion to reinforce the theme he has been pushing domestically that the economy was emerging in good shape from the post-mining boom "hangover" and wages growth, while still flat, showed signs of rebounding.

"As the adjustment from the end of the mining investment boom continues and spare capacity in the labour market is absorbed, we can expect upward pressure on wages to resume, in line with productivity growth and investment," he said.

"In the meantime, households continue to be frustrated with static incomes. This frustration is exacerbated by the memory that it didn't used to be that way too long ago, during a time that, in hindsight, was more the exception than the rule.

"We have been in a holding pattern on wages and investment that has weighed down any economic momentum we have been able to achieve. Only now has the vast majority of that investment boom washed out of the system and the drag on our economy is almost complete."

With Donald Trump indicating he wants to cut the company tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent, Mr Morrison said his government, too, remained committed to its corporate tax cuts.

"To grow our economy, just like in the US, we must have a competitive tax system that encourages our businesses to expand, embrace new opportunities and innovate. Across the globe, the principle of cutting business taxes to drive growth and investment is the emerging economic consensus."