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The 2022‑23 budget, due out tomorrow (29 March), will more than double the scope of the government’s Home Guarantee Scheme in an attempt to woo voters ahead of the upcoming federal election.
The government reports the scheme has helped 60,000 Australians into a home since 1 January 2020. Under the new measures, it will now offer 50,000 places a year.
The extension of the program, which encompasses the New Home Guarantee, Family Home Guarantee, and First Home Guarantee (previously known as the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme), will also include the introduction of a new funding initiative, the Regional Home Guarantee, open to non-first home buyers.
It follows on the heels of the Labor party’s announcement last week that if elected, the party would institute a program aimed at tripling the number of places that Australians living in regional areas received last year under the current FHLDS.
The three major changes to the government’s housing funding include:
- 35,000 guarantees each year, up from the current 10,000, from 1 July 2022 under the First Home Guarantee, supporting first home buyers to purchase a new or existing home with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent.
- 10,000 guarantees each year from 1 October 2022 to 30 June 2025 under a new Regional Home Guarantee, supporting home buyers, including non-first home buyers and permanent residents, to purchase or construct a new home in regional areas, subject to the passage of enabling legislation.
- 5,000 guarantees each year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025 to expand the Family Home Guarantee, supporting single-parent homes with children in purchasing their first home or to re-entering the housing market with a deposit of as little as 2 per cent.
The government reports that since the launch of the Home Guarantee Scheme, it has made a particular impact on women and front-line workers with 52 per cent of guarantees going to women, 85 per cent of Family Home Guarantees taken up by single mums, and one in five guarantees issued to essential workers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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