In the midst of political wrangling, Master Builders Australia urges Parliament to adopt sensible housing policies that benefit both aspiring homeowners and encourage more housing supply.

CEO Denita Wawn said the industry was strongly supportive of the Help to Buy Scheme which will assist some homebuyers in acquiring their first home. 

“Those qualifying for the equity contributions will be able to purchase the home with a deposit as low as 2 per cent of the purchase price.

“The Help to Buy scheme will be rolled out at the same time as the National Housing Accord, an initiative which includes the target of delivering 1.2 million new homes over the five years which has never been done before.

“Beating our industry’s ‘personal best’ can only be done against the backdrop of exceptionally favourable conditions for the residential building industry,” Ms Wawn said.

The proposal to provide higher equity caps for new homes (40 per cent) compared with existing homes (30 per cent) is to be commended. Master Builders supports the cap being expanded even further to 50 per cent. 

“Designing the scheme in this way will help divert demand towards new home building and mean that the Help to Buy scheme works to expand Australia’s stock of dwellings. 

“The proposal to restrict eligibility for the scheme to homes below certain price thresholds depending on geographic market is a sensible approach, given that home prices vary so much from place to place.

“Help to Buy is a sensible policy approach that looks at lifting housing affordability pressures while not negatively impacting the investment market.

“We need to continue to develop policies that increase the housing supply while also encouraging people into home ownership.

“Policies such as negative gearing and CGT changes as being demanded by the Greens will only see a fall in the number of homes built and drive away investors,” Ms Wawn said.

What is Help to Buy

Help for eligible home buyers to buy their own home with as little as 2% deposit.

The NSW Government contributes a part of the purchase price in exchange for an equal interest in the property. It’s open to:

• single parents of a dependent child or children
• single people aged 50 years or older
• first home buyer key workers who are nurses, midwives, paramedics, teachers, early childhood educators or police officers