This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LABOR’S $329 million Help to Buy Scheme will be legislated this year after an agreement between the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the state and territory leaders, which will see the federal government contribute as much as 40% of the cost of a new home for some buyers.
Under the scheme, low and middle-income-earning home buyers will receive an equity contribution from the federal government of up to 30% for the price of existing homes and up to 40% for new homes.
Single people are eligible for the scheme, first announced during last year’s federal election campaign, if they earn less than $90,000, while couples can be eligible if there income doesn’t breach $120,000.
The four-year plan will support up to 10,000 buyers per year. Price caps on the homes eligible vary between states and cities.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the backing of National Cabinet at the ALP National Conference in Brisbane yesterday.
“Our government will help 40,000 low and middle income families buy a home.
“So often these Australians have done all the right things – worked hard, saved up, made sacrifices, but a deposit for a home is still out of reach.
“Our government will step up and assist, opening the door of home ownership to tens of thousands of Australians.”
National Cabinet met in Brisbane this week with a focus on alleviating supply issues amid the national housing crisis.
It agreed to an additional 200,000 homes to be delivered on top of the one million as part of the National Housing Accord, and the federal government committed to $3 billion in incentive payments for states and territories that deliver more than their share of National Housing Accord homes, as well as a Housing Support Program of $500 million targeted to local and state/territory governments to help with the “last mile” on projects to build housing and enabling infrastructure
Also agreed was a National Planning Reform Blueprint with the aim of streamlining and boosting planning and zoning for faster delivery of homes. Renters were also promised a national base for rental standards, including running hot and cold water and stovetops to be in working order, as well as requirements for genuine reasonable grounds of eviction.
Albanese and the Premiers did not heed the Greens’ calls for a national rental freeze or rental caps – a key plank of their negotiations for allowing the government’s $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) to pass the Senate – instead opting to introduce a once-per-year limit to rent increases, with no caps.
A large majority of renters already receive rent increases once per year.
