Investors considering buying North East properties are facing so many land tax hurdles they're likely to look across the Border, a Victorian opposition MP says.
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Opposition housing affordability spokesman Evan Mulholland said with Benambra MP Bill Tilley temporarily off the job with health issues, he was on a tour of the North East to discuss the housing crisis and other regional issues with councils, developers and builders.
He said the biggest issue that arose in his visits was land tax hardships. Last year, a parliamentary inquiry urged the Victorian government to investigate scrapping stamp duty and replacing it with a broad-based land tax.
"In the last budget, the government changed a bunch of thresholds so more investors are now going to have their land taxes increase," Mr Mulholland said on Wednesday, April 3.
"And that's obviously caused a big issue in border communities like Albury-Wodonga, because people have the option to sell up and go across the border.
"Wendy Lovell (member for Northern Victoria) raised a matter in Parliament about how a mum and dad bought a property in Wodonga for their daughter who was fleeing domestic violence in Albury, but have now received a massive land tax bill for that property and are now finding it really difficult.
"In Victoria, we have about one in four investors leaving the market and those numbers are quite similar in Wodonga. This causes a whole lot of issues for rental availability."
Mr Mulholland said the land tax issue and its ramifications meant fewer rentals were on the market.
He said latest figures showed when houses are sold in Victoria, only about one in three were sold to investors to put on the market as rentals.
"This means they're getting used either by homeowners or for short stays," Mr Mulholland said.
"That's causing a massive distortion in the market in Wodonga and making it hard for people to find rentals, whether they're seeking temporary accommodation as seasonal workers or not."
