From politics to property: Kamala Harris dives into housing at Aussie real estate summit

Housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges facing Gen Z across the US and Australia alike, says former US vice president Kamala Harris on her first visit down under.

More than 4,000 property professionals flocked to the Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC) on the Gold Coast on Sunday to see the 2024 presidential candidate and others share their stories on stage.

In an on-stage interview with AREC founder John McGrath, Ms Harris said the housing affordability problem was fuelled by factors like the cost of building and the challenges surrounding saving for a home deposit.

“I’ve been paying a lot of attention to Gen Z and … among the challenges that they face greater than any previous generation is the dream of home ownership – [it’s] one of the greatest challenges they face,” Ms Harris said.

“Governments need to work much more closely with the private sector to be clear about what the incentives are, as well as the disincentives, to build more housing.

“We have to solve this problem, but it is going to take governments working with the private sector and [property professionals] to do that work.”

Ms Harris said the real estate industry had an important role to play in helping people get onto the property ladder.

“You allow people to implement their dream of creating a place that is not only a symbol of their hard work but an extension of their dignity,” she told the audience.

“For the vast majority of those folks, it is the most intricate and most significant financial arrangement they will ever be in.

“It represents for them intergenerational wealth and it is the place where they will create family memories.”

Ms Harris, who served as the 49th vice president of the US, ran as the Democrat’s 2024 candidate and lost to Republication president Donald Trump last November.

The conference drew leaders from real estate, tech and hospitality, who shared how they climbed to the top of their own fields.

Globally renowned restaurateur Will Guidara shared how he took Eleven Madison Park in New York from a middling Brasserie to the best restaurant in the world.

Under Mr Guidara’s leadership, the restaurant received four stars from the New York Times, three Michelin stars, and was named number one on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017.

“I believe if you want to create a culture of excellence, you can’t pick and choose which details you care about,” he told the AREC audience.

“You need to create a culture where you care about all of the details, and only then can you become great.”

He went on to publish the national bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality, chronicling the lessons in service and leadership he learned over the course of his career in restaurants.

UK serial entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett shared his personal story and told the conference that experimentation and failure were more important than getting every decision right.

“Sometimes when you turn over stones, you don’t find small prizes, you find extremely big ones,” he said.

“So the game is to turn over as many stones as you possibly can.”

Mr Bartlett was the youngest-ever venture capitalist, or dragon, on the BBC series Dragons’ Den; host of the Diary of a CEO podcast; and co-founder of San Francisco-based software company Thirdweb.

Real estate agent and Ray White Upper North Shore director David Walker said successful people didn’t hope to succeed, they expected to.

“I’ve worked in real estate for 20 years, and I’ve worked with some of the best operators in the industry,” he said.

“Those people don’t just believe in their skills, they believe in their vision and they know where they’re going and they know how to get there.”

“They don’t hope to succeed, they expect to.”

High profile real estate agents Oliver Lavers, Adrian Oddi, Lana Samuels and Josh Morrissey also spoke at the conference. The conference continues on Monday.

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