This week saw the passage in Parliament of two important reforms designed to tackle the housing crisis by helping low-and middle-income Australians including key workers, get access to homes.
“The passage of the Help to Buy Scheme is a welcome outcome after months of debate, and as a result, key workers will now have the same opportunity as others to own a home,” said Col Dutton, Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) National President.
Under the Help to Buy initiative, eligible homebuyers with a minimum 2% deposit, will get up to a 40% equity contribution towards a new home or a 30% contribution for an existing home and be able to take advantage of lower ongoing repayments.
“Home Ownership is a critical piece of the housing puzzle and this initiative ensures that access to ownership is for all Australians and not just those with the funds to go it alone,’ said Col Dutton.
UDIA looks forward to working with Government to make sure housing initiatives such as the Help To Buy Scheme continue to deliver access to homes for the people of Australia.
Yesterday’s passage of legislation to deliver new tax breaks to support the construction of around 80,000 new homes to rent is a welcome step which will encourage investment and construction in the build to rent sector.
“UDIA is pleased that government adopted several of our recommendations to remove unintended impediments that would otherwise undermine the initiative. We note that there are still key issues to hammer out in regulation, to allow the BTR initiative to operate as intended,” said Col Dutton.
Key aspects of the announcement stated that BTR developments that are constructed or under construction before last year’s Budget that can access the incentive, provided they meet all eligibility criteria.
UDIA calls on the government to invest more in enabling infrastructure to support development of housing product that we critically need to support these initiatives and achieve the Housing Accord Target.
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane | Director, National Media & Communications | 0416 295 898 | media@udia.com.au