Labor's 'Build to Sell' housing pledge competes with Coalition's 'Super For Housing' scheme

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Housing affordability is front of mind for many voters this election with both major parties putting forward ambitious initiatives.

Transcript

00:00If we look at Labor's policies to start with, there are three main policies for first home

00:07buyers.

00:08We've got the 5% deposit for new home buyers, we've got the 100,000 new builds for only

00:17first home buyers can access and also we still have an extension of the equity sharing arrangement

00:24where the government will contribute up to 40% of a home for first home buyers.

00:30So in terms of those three policies, if we just look at those, probably for the short

00:36term impact, those people who are looking at first home buying with the 5% deposits, probably

00:42something that's more short term and that may put a little bit of extra pressure on demand.

00:49If we look at the Liberal policy, the same thing can go for accessing the superannuation.

00:55I suppose the main difference there is that Labor already have a 5% deposit scheme, they're

01:01just extending that scheme, so that will probably be able to happen fairly quickly.

01:06They are not capping income and there's no capping on how many people can actually use that scheme.

01:13With the Liberals looking at the superannuation access for first deposits, that we'll need

01:19to have a change through Parliament, through legislation, but I still think that would probably

01:25happen fairly quickly, given that this is something where people were able to access their super

01:32during COVID and that's something that was able to be organised quite quickly.

01:37And I think that will also put some extra demand on housing in the short term.

01:42In terms of the longer term, having the ability to deduct interest from your taxable income

01:49for first home buyers, which is one of the Coalition's policies, that will probably be

01:55something that's a little bit more longer term.

01:58It is only focused on new builds, as is the 100,000 new builds from Labor.

02:05So both of those are going to be a little bit longer term, so probably not any immediate

02:10pressure on the housing market.

02:13Now we've got the Anglicare Australia report showing in its annual rental affordability snapshot,

02:19no rental listings affordable for people on youth allowance, less than 1% affordable for

02:23someone earning a full-time minimum wage.

02:26So let's look at that end of the market in terms of social housing, homelessness pledges

02:31and of course relieving this rental stress.

02:34Have we seen any bright spots in these spaces?

02:37I think there's a little bit there that Labor was talking about yesterday and they have had

02:43in their plan that has been approved is to actually release some more social housing.

02:50So I think that that's something that's going to be very helpful.

02:53So there's 55,000 new social housing plan to be built.

02:58Of course that will take some time so it doesn't provide immediate relief.

03:04There's also 1.2 billion that Labor have pledged to put into crisis housing.

03:08So I think that's something that is very welcome.

03:12And both major parties, they've ruled out changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax, of course

03:17the Greens have other things to say on that, they do want to see that tackled.

03:21But Anthony Albanese refusing to say whether Labor's increased supply of housing would lead

03:25to falling property prices.

03:27Peter Dutton says he wants to see house prices steadily increase and we've actually heard that

03:31housing prices are going to increase prices from both sides, except to rise, with incomes

03:35to rise faster is what they say.

03:37So how can housing be made more affordable in these parameters?

03:42Well, that's the big question, isn't it, that's very hard to answer.

03:46I think probably with some of the policies that are increasing supply, it will help to keep

03:53housing prices fairly steady, but we also have to remember that housing is part of the broader

04:00economy.

04:01So there are a lot of other factors that can impact on the affordability.

04:05So you talked about wages, of course, that's going to be very helpful, even with these deposits,

04:11these lower deposits or accessing super for first home buyers for their deposit.

04:17That will be helpful.

04:18But at the end of the day, the homeowners need to be able to repay their mortgage and show

04:25that they can service it.

04:26So wages will have a big impact there.

04:29Of course, interest rates also do have an impact on housing affordability.

04:33And there are many other factors that need to be considered.

04:36So it's not really an easy question to answer.

04:40Make sure to answer.

Category

Transcript

Recommended