Mr. Brian Moran:

At the end of the day, the arrival of this proposal is already distorting the market. There is no question for my colleagues who are involved in land transactions. I certainly know that any discussions we have had with landowners about bringing forward land have come to a grinding halt. When there is clarity on this measure we will also find that landowners will still wait to see how it is implemented. There will be many years of disputes around valuations. That is the evidence from other countries such as New Zealand and Australia that have brought this in. The whole system gets clogged up. It is not a perfect solution by any means. It is still difficult but if it is brought in over five or six years, at least it creates less friction initially because the tax is not so high in year one and is a bit higher in year two. An incentive for the landowner is being created. Landowners will decide to dispose of the land at the price they can get today rather than waiting for it to come in further down the line. It would probably reduce the bid-ask spread between the landowner and the developer in that initial phase and there would be less friction and less effort for the whole administrative valuation structure. I know local authorities will struggle with valuation expertise. The whole industry will struggle to work through this, in particular if it is introduced in a cliff-edge way. It is a potential solution to help the process, if it comes in down the line.