--- title: "Ong ViforJ: Why the Housing Gap Between Generations Is Widening, and What Would Narrow It" url: https://australianproperty.network/opinion/policy-commentary-critique/submissions-inquiries-testimony/ong-viforj-intergenerational-housing-gap-submission/ date: 2026-09-25 modified: 2026-09-25 lang: en author: "APN National Insight" description: "An APN 23000 Series attributed perspective: Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ's submission to the Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing inequity finds the housing wealth gap between generations is widening, and proposes reforms to investor tax settings, stamp duty, downsizing and shared equity. Figures are the author's own research findings." categories: - "Submissions, Inquiries & Testimony" tags: - "21610" - "21660" - "First Home Buyers" - "Intergenerational Inequality" image: https://australianproperty.network/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Ong-ViforJ-Generational-Housing-Sept-2026.webp word_count: 1296 --- # Ong ViforJ: Why the Housing Gap Between Generations Is Widening, and What Would Narrow It #### Ong ViforJ: Why the Housing Gap Between Generations Is Widening, and What Would Narrow It APN 23000 Series  ·  [23440 Submissions, Inquiries & Testimony](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-23000/series-23400/series-23440/) Reference O-260924-151039-MEDIUM  ·  24 September 2026  ·  Significance Medium Trigger event Written submission to the Senate Select Committee on Intergenerational Housing Inequity — a housing economist sets out how the housing wealth gap between generations has grown and proposes four policy options, ahead of the committee’s final report Companion 22000 output [*Investors, First Home Buyers and Borrowing: Rachel Ong ViforJ’s Figures Tested*](https://australianproperty.network/insight/thematic-insight/investment-finance-insight/investment-finance-claim-test/investors-first-home-buyers-borrowing-ong-viforj-figures-tested/) (I-260924-151038) Data anchors **NIL RETURN** The figures below are the author’s own research findings and her reading of ABS data; none is an APN data anchor. Her figures on investor and first home buyer lending, and on borrowing, are tested in the companion Investment & Finance Claim Test. Filed at MEDIUM significance: an evidenced research submission on the formal record of a live Senate inquiry. ##### 23000 Series — Scope & Inclusion Criteria The Australian Property Network’s (APN’s) 23000 Series is the attributed opinion layer of the APN Codex. It presents the recorded perspective of an identified practitioner, academic or subject-matter expert whose observations bear on active node conditions, without constituting APN’s own analytical position. This perspective is drawn from a written submission on the public record of the Senate Select Committee on Intergenerational Housing Inequity, which is due to present its final report by 30 September 2026. **The committee’s question, whether younger Australians face a structurally worse path to housing than their parents did, is one this submission answers with evidence rather than assertion.** The author’s statements are presented as her own attributed analysis, not as verified fact. ##### Attributed Perspective — Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ, Curtin University **Ong ViforJ’s central finding is that the housing wealth gap between generations is widening, not just persisting.** Drawing on her own published research, she reports that in 1997–98 Australians in their 50s held 161% more housing equity on average than those in their 30s; by 2017–18 the gap was 243%. Some gap is expected, she notes, because older people have had longer to accumulate. What concerns her is that “this intergenerational housing wealth gap has widened over time”. She attributes it to two trends: home ownership has fallen faster among the young, and younger owners are buying later and with larger loans, so their equity grows more slowly even once they own. **She identifies parental help as a growing force in who becomes an owner.** On her research, a young adult who receives a cash transfer of more than $5,000 from their parents has four times the odds of becoming a home owner. One living rent-free in a second home owned by their parents is two and a half times as likely to buy in the following year as one renting privately. That help is valuable to those who receive it, she writes, but at the scale of the whole population it entrenches the passing of housing wealth down family lines and widens inequality between young people with and without such help. **Her first policy direction is to reduce the competition first home buyers face from investors.** Citing ABS lending data, she reports that investors and first home buyers each accounted for about a quarter of new housing loans in December 2019, and that by December 2025 investors accounted for 40% and first home buyers 22%. She also points to evidence that short-term rentals raise prices and rents. She recommends winding back negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, introduced in stages so as not to unsettle the market. **Her remaining directions address the housing stock and the structure of assistance.** She proposes wider stamp duty concessions for older Australians who wish to downsize, together with a greater mix of smaller dwellings in each local area, so they can move without leaving their community. She notes her research finding that 84% of aspiring first home buyers cannot meet a deposit, 71% cannot meet repayments, and two-thirds meet neither, and concludes that schemes reducing only the deposit will not reach many of them. She therefore supports shared equity schemes as a transitional path to ownership. Citing ABS survey data, she adds that the average mortgage debt of mortgage holders aged 25 to 34 rose from 108% of their income in 1990 to 242% in 2019. Her final proposal is to replace stamp duty with a broad-based land tax, phasing each property into the new system when it is next sold. **Source:** Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ, John Curtin Distinguished Professor, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Curtin University. Written submission — *Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Intergenerational Housing Inequity*, Submission 4 to the Senate Select Committee on Intergenerational Housing Inequity, dated 26 April 2026, published on the [committee’s submissions page](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Intergenerational_Housing_Inequity/HousingInequity/Submissions). Retrieved 24 September 2026. Close paraphrase throughout, with short direct quotations as marked; the published submission is the authoritative record of exact wording. *Context:* the figures on housing equity, parental assistance and borrowing constraints are from the author’s own peer-reviewed and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute research, cited in the submission. The submission declares no commercial interest; commercial interests not independently verified. ##### APN Clinical Reframing The submission combines research findings with policy proposals, and the two warrant different treatment. The findings on housing equity, parental assistance and borrowing constraints come from the author’s own published research and cannot be re-derived from the series APN holds; they are presented as her findings. Her figures on the shares of new housing loans going to investors and first home buyers rest on ABS lending data, and [the companion Investment & Finance Claim Test](https://australianproperty.network/insight/thematic-insight/investment-finance-insight/investment-finance-claim-test/investors-first-home-buyers-borrowing-ong-viforj-figures-tested/) tests them against the same source. It finds that they reproduce closely, and that the fall in first home buyers’ share of all loans reflects the rise in investor lending rather than any fall in first home buyers’ share of owner-occupier lending. One of her proposals has since been acted on. The Budget of 12 May 2026, delivered about two weeks after the submission was dated, provides that from 1 July 2027 negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds, with properties held at announcement protected, and that the capital gains tax discount is replaced with cost-base indexation and a minimum tax. That is broadly the direction and the staged approach she recommended. **The submission now reads as a statement of the case for reforms that are under way, alongside proposals on stamp duty, downsizing and shared equity that remain open.** This perspective is an exploration candidate for [Investor vs. Owner-Occupier Behaviour (21610)](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21600/21610-investor-vs-owner-occupier-behaviour/) and [First Home Buyer Lending Share (21660)](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21600/21660-credit-appetite-revealed-borrowing-behaviour/). The open question it raises is whether the rise in investor lending since 2021 will reverse as the tax changes take effect. No figure or characterisation in this piece may be treated as an APN-certified position for any 21000, 22000 or 24000 Series node. ##### Disclaimer The analysis, information, and opinions contained in this article are for general informational and strategic purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, or any other form of professional advice. The Australian Property Network (APN) is a strategic intelligence organisation and is not a licensed financial advisor. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this text belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Australian Property Network (APN). This content may be based on data from third-party sources believed to be reliable; however, APN provides no warranty as to its accuracy, currency, or completeness. Images used are for illustrative and conceptual purposes only and may not represent real persons, properties, or events. 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