Former RBA governor Glenn Stevens to advise NSW govt on housing affordability

Former Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens will advise the NSW government on ways to improve housing affordability which Premier Gladys Berejiklian said was one of her priorities since she became Premier in January.

Stevens’ appointment, the first position since he left the RBA in September after a decade as its chief, could again raise the issue of negative gearing ­reform, which he strongly backed during his central bank tenure, according to a report in The Australian.

Stevens was cited in the report as saying, “Housing affordability is a growing challenge for many residents of NSW and I look forward to working with the government on measures that might help ­address it.”

The affordability measures are expected to be unveiled during or before the next budget.

“The NSW government understands that housing affordability is top of mind for many people across the state,” Berejiklian said. “That is why we have made it a key priority and why we have asked Mr Stevens to lend his expertise to tackling this issue.”

But Berejiklian did not say about whether she would push the federal government on negative gearing if Stevens indicated it would ease affordability pressures.

During his time as governor, the central bank told a parliamentary inquiry “there is a case for reviewing negative gearing, but not in isolation”.

The most recent house price figures, compiled by CoreLogic RP Data, show a 16 per cent ­annual increase in Sydney dwelling prices, and a 1 percent increase in January.

That has pushed the median Sydney home price to $850,000, compared to $640,000 in Melbourne and $490,000 in ­Brisbane.