Today’s Sunday Canberra Times reports that a greedy Canberra developer has used his family to score 30 blocks of low-cost land to form a very lucrative land bank for himself, which is contrary to the policy for these blocks.
He was told he could only have a maximum of five blocks, which would still have turned him a tidy profit, but he then got family members to buy up five blocks each. The LDA has satsified themselves that this developer is going to build and sell all 30 blocks.
The Liberals have found this out under FOI, which surely must make us all wonedr what other rorts are going on, all of which detroy the government’s affordable housing policy.
This developer, and his family members who are part of this scam, should be named and shamed by the government (although as we’ve seen from other examples such as the ‘Bundah caravan park issue, these lowlifes are virtually unembarassable) to at least let everyone know who is making obscene profits by flouting the letter and the spirit of the housing affordability policies.
Canberrans, this developer and his family are among those who are pushing up the price of land and making it even harder for young poeple to get into the housing market, by creating a monopoly and by land banking these blocks.
[ED – Or possibly those in Government who are misguidedly distorting the market, which invariably works to the benefit of market insiders, should be apologising?]