New survey signals most voters open to lower home prices to sort housing affordability mess

The majority of Australian voters want house prices to fall or stay the same, including older generations, a survey suggests.

Younger voters were unsurprisingly more likely to favour lower home prices, though roughly half of those 50 or older were prepared to see dwelling values sink over the next five years.

The fresh Redbridge polling, conducted for Everybody’s Home, suggests the political fight over housing will only intensify leading into the next election as higher interest rates and rising rents keep pressure on the mortgage belt and renters.

Redbridge strategy and analytics director Kos Samaras said those surveyed were not necessarily in favour of their own homes falling in value, but rather that any new homes coming onto the market were cheaper.

People who had recently bought at the peak of the market were also likely to prefer prices staying high.

While it’s the first time the surveying firm has run the poll, Mr Samaras said fewer would have been in favour of lower house prices if asked five years ago.

“People overwhelmingly see the problem,” he told AAP.

The majority of the 2000 Australians polled said their housing costs were higher compared to this time last year, with nearly 90 per cent agreeing housing affordability had deteriorated at least a little.

Renters and mortgage-holders were bearing the brunt but Mr Samaras said outright home-owners, usually older, were seeing the pressures on young generations.

Adult children were staying in the family home for longer and parents were finding themselves helping their kids with bills and other expenses, he said.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said home prices left ownership out of reach for many and parents were worried their children may never move out of the family home.

“It’s a tired trope that homeowners want house prices to keep rising,” Ms Azize said.

She said housing affordability would be the defining issue of the upcoming federal election.

The national housing campaign wants negative gearing scrapped, more social housing built, stronger protections for renters, and a boost to income support payments.

Monday’s survey found 46 per cent wanted the government to limit negative gearing to one property at a time.

Seven in 10 wanted more spent on social housing and 60 per cent were in favour of government grants for developers making some dwellings in projects affordable.