Q. Thinking about housing prices, which of the following is mainly responsible for the increase in Australian house prices?

And which is the second most responsible?

Most people think that a shortage of housing is mainly responsible for the increase in Australian housing prices, 20% think this is the second reason for the increase in house prices.  

19% point to overseas buyers as being mainly responsible for the increase in Australian house prices, 15% think this is the second reason. 

Coalition voters were more likely to think overseas buyers are mainly responsible for the increase in Australian house prices (22%), while Green voters were more likely to think Australian investors are mainly responsible. 

People aged 35 – 44 were more likely to think low interest rates are most responsible (17%), people aged 45 – 54 think a shortage of housing is most responsible (40%), while those aged 65 years and over think that overseas buyers are most responsible for the increase in housing prices (26%). 

Females more likely to indicate overseas buyers are mainly responsible (23%), while males were more likely to point to a shortage of housing as mainly responsible for increased house prices (39%).  Comments »

Q. Do you personally want house prices to increase, decrease or stay the same?

34% of people surveyed want house prices to decrease, 28% want prices to increase, 28% want house prices to stay the same and 9% don’t know.

Coalition voters were more likely to want house prices to increase (36%) while Green voters were more likely to indicate they want house prices to decrease (49%). 

People aged 18 – 24 were more likely to want house prices to decrease (56%), those aged 25 – 34 were more likely to want house prices to increase (37%) and those aged 55 years and over were more likely to want prices to stay the same (40%).  Comments »

Q. Which are the three most important issues in deciding how you would vote at a Federal election? (Number from 1 to 3 where 1 is the most important, 2 the second most important, etc)

 63% of people surveyed rate management of the economy as one of their three most important issues, followed by 48% that rate ensuring the quality of Australia’s health system and 33% that rate Australian jobs and protection of local industries as one of their three most important issues.

 10% rate a fair industrial relations system as one of their three most important issues that would decide how they vote in a Federal election and 9% rate security and the war on terrorism.  Comments »

Q. Between Liberal and Labor, which party do you think would be best at managing each of the following issues?

When it comes to which party is best at handling economic issues, Labor leads the Liberal party on managing the improvement of wages for low income earners (+17%), executive salaries (+9%) and the age pension (+9%).

Labor trails the Liberals in terms of managing government debt (-24%), followed by managing interest rates (-9%) and superannuation (-9%).

Perception of which party is best at managing the economic issues listed followed party lines.

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Q. Which of the following statements most closely reflects your opinion on the cause of the recent increase in official interest rates?

When it comes to what the public perceive are the causes of the recent increase in official interest rates, 30% think that the Reserve Bank independently sets interest rates to avoid inflation and 18% think that interest rate rises are a correction to the historic low interest rates during the Global Financial Crisis.  15% think that the Federal Government has managed the economy well and the rate increase is a sign of a strong economy.

Only 9% think it is because the Government has managed the economy badly.

Coalition voters were more likely to think that the Reserve Bank independently setting interest rates to avoid inflation is the cause of the recent increase in interest rates (39%).  Labor voters were more likely to think the increase in interest rates is because the Federal Government has managed the economy well and the rate increase is a sign of a strong economy (28%).  Green voters were more likely to think the recent interest rate rises are just a correction to the historic low interest rates during the Global Financial Crisis (24%).

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