‘Critical’: Housing leaders welcome Help to Buy, Build-to-Rent wins

The Help to Buy shared equity scheme is poised to help up to 40,000 homebuyers secure a home deposit faster, while the Build-to-Rent changes will incentivise foreign investors to build more rental homes in Australia.

Both bills had been blocked in Canberra by the Coalition and the Greens, but are set to pass through the Senate with the support of the Greens.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said they tried hard to get the Albanese government to shift on soaring rents and negative gearing, but couldn’t get there this time.   

"There comes a point where you’ve pushed as far as you can,” he said.

"We’ll wave the housing bills through and take the fight to the next election, where we’ll keep Peter Dutton out and then push Labor to act on unlimited rent rises and tax handouts to wealthy property investors."

Greens leader Adam Bandt has promised to take the fight to the next election and continue to push Labor. Picture: News Corp Australia

Federal housing and homelessness minister Clare O’Neil said she was relieved, but noted that the delays were costly.

“I'm relieved that the Greens have seen sense and decided to back the government’s housing policies to help renters, but thousands of people could be in their own home by now if the Greens had just backed a policy that they had in their own 2022 election platform,” she said on social media.

“If we had our Help to Buy bill passed when it was first put to the Parliament a year ago, 10,000 people would have been in home ownership that are not there today.

“It has cost them in homeownership opportunities. It has resulted in less social and affordable housing being built in our country.”

Housing Industry Association (HIA) managing director Jocelyn Martin said the housing bills can play an important role in supporting young Australian’s access housing and address declining rates of home ownership.

“The measures supported as part of these ‘Housing Bills’ alongside other forms of housing incentive programs are critical to boost housing supply,” Ms Martin said.

“They are critical in supporting first home buyers raising the deposit more quickly and easily.

“We know from previous schemes, including the first home loan guarantee scheme and state and territory first home buyer grants, that targeted housing support measures work, are effective in helping bridge the deposit barrier to get people into their own home sooner.”

It comes as housing affordability sits at the worst level on record, according to PropTrack's Housing Affordability Index.

After a year of higher interest rates and home price growth, even fewer households were able to achieve their dream of owning a home.

National home prices have increased 5.6% to $797,000 over the year to November, and were more than 45% higher than prior to the pandemic.

Rental affordability was also sitting at its worst level in at least 17 years, when records begin, according to the PropTrack Rental Affordability Index.

This article first appeared on realestate.com.au and was republished with permission.