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The government’s shared equity scheme is set to pass the Senate, after the Greens reversed its party stance on the policy.
After a protracted stalemate that seemed destined to result in the bill’s failure, the Greens have reportedly agreed to vote in favour of the Labor party’s shared equity scheme, called Help to Buy.
This will clear a path for the bill to pass through the Senate this week, with the bill set to be debated on Tuesday, 26 November 2024.
A foundational piece of the Labor Party’s housing agenda during the 2022 federal election, the policy is made up of the Help to Buy Bill 2023 and the Help to Buy (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023, which pave the way for the government to introduce a shared equity home buying scheme targeted at first home buyers.
Under the program, 40,000 eligible participants will be provided with an equity share from the government of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of new homes and 30 per cent for existing homes. The buyer won’t need to pay rent on the share owned by the government, but they will need to pay a corresponding share of any capital gains earned on the property once it is sold. Price caps will be in place depending on the location of the home, with salary limits for eligible participants.
The Greens had heavily criticised the program as too limited in scope, with Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather describing it as a “lottery” that ran the risk of inflating house prices.
Early on in negotiations, the Greens said their support of the measure was reliant on the government making a commitment to reassess the current negative gearing and capital gains tax policy settings.
Last week, the party switched tactics, asking for the government to devote more funding to affordable and social housing construction, namely the projects that had not made the cut in the first round selected by the Housing Australia Future Fund.
Both proposals were shot down by the government, with Housing Minister Clare O’Neil suggesting that the Greens were not negotiating “seriously”.
The policy had originally appeared likely to fail after the government was unable to bring a vote on the matter earlier in the year. This is its second attempt to pass the legislation through Parliament, having reintroduced the measure in October.
The Greens have not yet indicated if the party will support Labor’s other stalled housing policy, which intends to change the tax setting to incentivise foreign investment in the build-to-rent sector.
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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