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Urban Development Institute of Australia welcomes the Federal Government’s expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme to help boost home ownership for Australians starting out and for single parents.
From 1 July 2022, the scheme will add 25,000 more places to the existing 10,000 places that support first home buyers to buy, using a deposit as little as 5%. It is also expanding with 5,000 new places for single parents with dependents to buy a home with a deposit of 2% or less. The increases to the price caps, are also welcomed as they will increase the amount of homes that can be purchased under this scheme
This scheme is an important part of the Government’s initiatives to improve access to home ownership, deliver targeted support for regional buyers, and implementation of a shared equity scheme together with increased delivery of affordable and social housing.
“UDIA supports any measure that helps make housing more accessible to more people. Today’s announcement from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation of 40,0000 new places under the Home Guarantee Scheme is a positive step in that direction. The expanded scheme will mean the difference between getting into a home sooner or, for some Australians, spending more time in an accelerating rental market,” said Max Shifman, UDIA National President.
The Government’s approach dovetails with the UDIA National key policy priority – A Home for Everyone – which recommends removing barriers for entry into the housing market for first home buyers. It also calls for boosting housing supply to reduce costs and improve affordability, by removing impediments including lack of enabling infrastructure, inadequate zoning & planning, delayed development & building approvals, slow environmental decisions.
“The Home Guarantee Scheme is a crucial initiative for fair and equitable access to home ownership for thousands of families, struggling to break into the market,” said Mr Shifman.
“However, whilst it helps with demand, there are many other changes needed in other areas to have any hope of reigning in housing costs and materially improving housing affordability. This means more development ready supply, and more tax and planning changes that help reduce the cost of delivering more right-sized housing where it is needed,” added Mr Shifman.
“The Federal Government should also incentivise states and territories to boost development ready land, fast track enabling infrastructure and streamline planning and approvals to maximise housing affordability,” said Maxwell Shifman.
UDIA National looks forward to working on the implementation of today’s announced measures in order to combat the affordability crisis and help all Australian’s find a home of their own.
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane | National Media & Communications Manager | 0416 295 898 | media@udia.com.au |
