Property lobby, the Property Council of Australia has praised yesterday’s repeal of the Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEO) scheme, which could ease the pressure on Australia’s property market.
The
Energy Efficiency Opportunities Act 2006 was created to improve the identification, evaluation and public reporting of energy efficiency opportunities, to encourage the uptake of cost effective energy efficiency opportunities.
Property Council chief executive, Ken Morrison said the repeal of the EEO scheme would generate substantial savings for property companies by removing duplicative reporting requirements.
“Requiring property companies to demonstrate that commitment on an annual basis was redundant and costly.
“Eliminating needless reporting means that property companies can focus on the real business of sustainability, rather than filling in paperwork,” he said.
Morrison said that the repeal also demonstrates that the government is finally starting to reduce red tape. He claimed this will allow property companies to pass on these savings to the market – such as allowing some price relief to the heated housing market.
“By lowering the regulatory burden on property companies, measures like this can have a positive impact on the cost of housing and other property assets,” he said.
This announcement will come as welcome news to property pundits who have spoken out this week against the barriers faced by the property industry.
The
Housing Industry Association came out earlier this week saying the government needs to stop hindering new home building, which would help push prices down.
“The key is to ensure that a number of markets, like Sydney for example, achieve sustainably healthy levels of new home over the coming decade which far outweigh what has been built over the last ten years. Numerous government policies across all tiers stand in the way of this objective being achieved,” HIA senior economist, Shane Garrett said.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor, Glenn Stevens has also called for action to help ease the price burden on Australia’s property market.
