Authoritative land information and Australian property markets

Abstract

Land information has an important role to play in informing macroeconomic policy. In particular, timely and accurate market information relating to land tenure and value is essential for evidence-based fiscal and monetary decisions, such as interest rates on dept financing and assessing property base taxes. Currently in Australia, there appears to be a gap between the creators of land information at the state level and the users of the information at the federal level. The capacity of evidence-based policy is under-realised as a result. This paper explores the inter-governmental land information flows within three state-based land administration systems and the Reserve Bank and Australian Taxation Office. Results of the study show that integration of land market information is occurring within some state land agencies; however communication with federal government departments is limited, leading to information asymmetries. The paper concludes that new options for enabling more seamless land information flows need to be prioritised. Collaboration will be essential.