The mortgage, finance and property industries have responded positively to the Liberal Party’s leadership coup, which saw Malcolm Turnbull defeat Tony Abbott 54 votes to 44 votes to become the Liberal Party leader and 29th prime minister of Australia.
Siobhan Hayden, the chief executive of the
MFAA told
Australian Broker that Turnbull’s “consultative approach” will be advantageous for the finance industry.
“The MFAA welcomes the appointment of Malcolm Turnball as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister. Malcolm identified in his opening speech that he will provide a clear vision and will adopt a consultative approach to his leadership which will further enhance any future debates on the financial services industry,” she said.
“I also believe his previous experience as an investment banker and venture capitalist demonstrates a deeper understanding of our sector which will be advantageous.”
Peter White, the chief executive of the
FBAA says he hopes Turnbull’s appointment will bring a new “economic focus”.
“The FBAA has been lobbying MPs from across the political spectrum on a continual basis to promote the needs and interests of the finance broking sector, so we have relationships with MPs in both the leadership camps,” he told
Australian Broker.
“We've also been speaking to Mr Turnbull's office and lobbying Prime Ministers for the past eight years. Our hope is that the elevation of Malcolm Turnbull to Prime Minister will bring a new economic focus and stimulus which will be good for our industry.”
But what will a change in PMs mean for the housing market specifically? Property pundits say the new Prime Minister could be good for the housing market. However,
CoreLogic RP Data’s
Cameron Kusher said change in unlikely to come swiftly.
“In the past, Malcolm Turnbull has talked about property affordability and the challenges there so there might be some progress there, but it’s not something that’s going to change overnight. It’s going to take time to announce new policies and obviously implement those policy change,” Kusher said.
Some of the changes impacting housing could come from where the government chooses to invest, Kusher indicated.
“Between Abbott and Turnbull you might see some changes, particularly around the infrastructure side of things: there’s been a big focus from the Abbott government on things like roads; you might find there’s a change towards public transport. Up here in Brisbane there’s some big ticket public transport items which the previous government hadn’t supported; if they had supported them it’d certainly have an impact on property prices in certain suburbs,” he said.
PIPA chair Ben Kingsley told
Australian Broker that most encouraging may be the housing policies that won’t change under Turnbull.
“It’s too early to get a clear understanding of the new Prime Minister’s full agenda. However, his own personal success in household wealth building provides us with some confidence that Mr Turnbull would support households who strive to achieve a self-funded retirement, which is the goal of any property investor. We are also pleased with Mr Turnbull’s comments that it’s ‘business as usual’ as this implies that the removal of negative gearing remains off the table.”
Ultimately, Kusher said Turnbull’s ascension is unlikely to have a far-reaching impact on housing.
“It’s not going to have too much of an effect. It may help consumer confidence; Turnbull is more interested in economics and has better credentials there but overall it’s probably, at least initially, not going too much of an impact on the housing market.”
