Carbon tax to add $6,000 to new home costs: HIA

The Housing Industry Association has added its voice of opposition to the Gillard Government’s proposed carbon tax, estimating it will add $6,000 to the cost of a building a home.

HIA’s estimate is based on a $20 per tonne carbon emissions price, but the organisation acknowledges the $6,000 estimate would be lower due to yet-to-be-confirmed compensation measures, which are expected to lower the additional cost by less than 15%.

The HIA believes the carbon tax will have a “significant negative impact” on new housing and Australian jobs.

“It is inevitable that jobs in Australia’s residential building sector and building product manufacturing sector will be lost under a carbon tax,” HIA executive Graham Wolfe says.

Although the government has not yet put a price on carbon, the HIA expects Australian manufacturing will be burdened twice: directly, from the tax, and indirectly, in the form of higher electricity, gas and fuel prices.

“Details on the Government’s compensation arrangements for emissions-intensive, ‘trade-exposed’ operations are at best sketchy, while compensation measures for the tens of thousands of small, medium and larger ‘trade exposed’ manufacturers have to date been off the agenda,” he says.