Newsletter
FEDERAL BUDGET NEWSLETTER
HOUSING MEASURES
Regional First Home Buyers Guarantee Scheme; Housing Australia Future Fund
The Government has announced that it will establish a Regional First Home Buyers Guarantee. Its aim will be to encourage home ownership in regional locations.
It will apply to eligible citizens and permanent residents who have lived in a regional location for more than 12 months to purchase their first home in that location with a minimum 5% deposit. It aims to reach 10,000 places per year to 30 June 2026. It will fund this by redirecting funding from the Regional Home Guarantee component of the 2022–2023 March Budget measure titled Affordable Housing and Home Ownership.
In other measures, the Government will invest $10 billion in the newly created Housing Australia Future Fund, to be managed by the Future Fund Management Agency. Its aim will be to generate returns to fund the delivery of 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years and allocate $330 million for acute housing needs.
The Government will also “broaden the remit” of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to directly support new social and affordable housing in addition to financing critical housing infrastructure.
New Housing Accord: $350 million in Government funding
The Government announced that it has struck a new national Housing Accord between state and territory governments, investors and other key stakeholders. This Housing Accord sets an initial, aspirational target of 1 million new homes over five years from 2024.
Under the Accord, the Government will commit $350 million over five years to deliver 10,000 affordable dwellings at an energy efficiency rating of seven stars or greater (or a state or territory’s minimum standard). This commitment is in addition to the 30,000 new social and affordable dwellings delivered through the Housing Australia Future Fund. The states and territories will also build on this commitment by providing in-kind or financial contributions that enable delivery of up to an additional 20,000 homes in total.
By delivering an ongoing funding stream to help cover the gap between market rents and subsidised rents, the Government believes it will make more projects commercially viable to attract much-needed investor capital to the sector.
The Government said it has secured endorsement from institutional investors, including superannuation funds, for the Accord. Investors will work constructively with Accord parties to optimise policy settings that facilitate institutional investment in affordable housing.