‘Hard road’: Chalmers stands by tax tweaks amid house price tumble

Australians are seeing through “the misinformation and disinformation” about Labor’s tax reforms, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says, as fresh polling shows Australians back tumbling property prices.

The latest Resolve Political Monitor found 60 per cent of Australians liked lower house prices.

Thirty-five per cent also supported changes to capital gains and negative gearing – almost double those opposing them.

“We don’t need an opinion poll to tell us that there are very substantial challenges in housing, and that’s why we are taking politically difficult steps to address those challenges, which have locked out too many young Australians for too long,” Mr Chalmers told reporters when asked about the findings on Monday.

“I also believe that when you go beyond the misinformation and disinformation and click bait and B-grade partisan campaigns being run against the government’s sensible tax reforms, Australians understand that there is a huge generational challenge in housing, and the tax system for too long has been part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”

He said the Albanese government had “chosen the hard road of reform rather than the easy path of least resistance”.

Forecasters paint a mixed picture of how far prices will fall over the next two years, with ANZ’s prediction of a historic 10.6 per cent drop in capital cities over 2026-27 rattling some observers.

But broadly, forecasts expect prices to stabilise in the second half of 2027 before ticking upward into 2028.

Most market analysts have also put the plunge down to a natural correction after years of growth rather than a crash caused by reforms unveiled in May.

Monday’s poll, which surveyed more than 2200 voters from August 9-15, also found 54 per cent felt the Albanese government was approaching immigration in an “unplanned and unmanaged way”.

One Nation was the preferred party to handle immigration, pulling 35 per cent of participants to Labor’s 23 per cent and the Coalition’s 17 per cent.

However, that did not translate into primary support, which remained unchanged on last month’s Resolve poll.

Labor retained its top spot at 28 per cent, One Nation at 26 per cent and the Coalition at 23 per cent.

Anthony Albanese also kept his lead in the preferred prime minister ranking despite slipping one point to 32 per cent.