Using your super as a house deposit is officially off the table, following confirmation this weekend that the ALP will form government.
Labor will instead seek to implement its planned shared equity scheme, promised during the campaign, that would see the government take a 40 per cent stake in purchases made by participants.
Dubbed 'Help to Buy' the scheme will see the government contribute up to 40 per cent of a property's purchase price in return for an equivalent stake in its future worth.
Open to 10,000 applicants a year, it will be open to singles earning less than $90,000 per year or couples earning less than $120,000. It's not yet clear when the incoming government plans to commence the scheme.
Other Labor housing promises set to be enacted include the establishment of a Housing Australia Future Fund which aims to construct 30,000 new social or affordable housing properties within the next five years - a significant boost on the social housing commitments offered by the coalition.
Interest earned from the fund will also be put toward other housing projects, Labor said.
Regional buyers are set to receive a leg up, with Labor having committed to establishing a low-deposit purchase scheme specifically for first-time buyers in regional areas, to commence in January 2023.
Under the scheme, closely modelled on the existing low deposit scheme, up to 10,000 buyers a year will be able to purchase a home with a deposit as low as 5 per cent, with the government guaranteeing the remainder of the deposit in order for the borrow to avoid having to pay lenders mortgage insurance.
Income limits of $125,000 per year for singles and $200,000 a year for couples apply and applicants must have lived in the region for at least 12 months prior.
Labor estimates that the scheme will triple the number of people in regional areas who can access a government guarantee scheme.
Finally, Labor has promised to establish a National Housing Supply and Affordability Council which will be advised by experts from the finance, economics, urban development, residential construction, urban planning and social housing sectors.
The Council will explore questions relating to future land supply and land use, with the aim of improving housing affordability.
Greens influence to be determined
The final shape of Labor's housing policy may depend on whether it can form a majority government or needs support from the crossbench, or what the shape of the senate looks like.
The Greens, for example, pitched a plan to build one million new publicly-owned properties in the next 20 years as part of its housing affordability policies taken to the election.
The build would be funded by the establishment of a Federal Housing Trust and would consist of a mix of public and community housing, housing for first-home buyers and rental properties for frontline workers.
Speaking to ABC Radio on the evening of the election, Greens Senator Larissa Waters indicated that housing affordability had been one of the key concerns raised by her Queensland constituents during campaigning, and that it would likely play a role in negotiations if a balance of power situation arose following the finalisation of election results.
