Carol Berry (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The great Australian dream of owning your own home crystallised in the decades after World War II. There was a construction boom following the end of the war, with new suburbs and towns created to cater for returning servicemen and the growing number of migrants—and there was also a baby boom. My grandfather fought in Borneo in the Second World War, and my family were the beneficiaries of this construction boom for returning servicemen, moving into their Housing Commission home in Dundas Valley in the New South Wales western suburbs, where my mother was raised. At this time there were plenty of jobs, and homeownership was not just a dream for many; it was a tangible reality. By 1966, homeownership in Australia hit its peak of 73 per cent.

Homeownership has become increasingly more difficult to achieve over the past 50 years, particularly in recent decades; however, it remains a major goal for many Australians. The Albanese Labor government is helping more Australians realise this dream of homeownership by launching five per cent deposits for all first home buyers early, on 1 October 2025 instead of next year. Under these changes, all first home buyers will have access, with no caps on places and no income limits. We are doing this by expanding the Home Guarantee Scheme.

The Home Guarantee Scheme involves the Albanese government guaranteeing a portion of a first home buyer's home loan so they can purchase with a lower deposit and not pay lenders mortgage insurance. The fact that these first home buyers will not have to pay lenders mortgage insurance should not be underestimated. Lenders mortgage insurance is insurance that a lender takes out to insure itself against the risk of not recovering the outstanding loan balance if a borrower is unable to meet their loan payments and the property is sold for less than the outstanding loan balance. Lenders mortgage insurance is usually required if a borrower does not have a 20 per cent deposit, which is the case for a substantial number of first home buyers. Lenders mortgage insurance protects the lender but the costs are passed on to the borrower and this is usually added on to the loan.

For the average first home buyer, the Albanese Labor government's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme will save tens of thousands of dollars in lenders mortgage insurance. In the first year alone, first home buyers using the scheme are expected to avoid around $1.5 billion in potential mortgage insurance costs. As I mentioned, an important change to the scheme is that all first home buyers will have access to it. There will no longer be any income limits.

Currently, the caps that apply to the first home buyers under this scheme are $125,000 for individuals or a combined $200,000 for joint applicants. Removing these caps will open up the opportunity for homeownership for many more Australians. Furthermore, the property price caps under the scheme will be increased in line with average house prices, therefore providing first home buyers with access to a greater variety of homes.

In capital cities and regional centres in my state of New South Wales, the property price cap will increase from $900,000 to $1.5 million, while in other parts of New South Wales the cap will rise from $750,000 to $800,000. The median home price in Australia today is $844,000 and five per cent of that is $42,000. The last time $42,000 covered the 20 per cent deposit for a median home was in 2002. Just to take us back to 2002, that was the year in which Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia as part of her golden jubilee world tour, Ansett Australia stopped flying after 66 years of operation and Steven Bradbury became a national icon by winning Australia's first gold medal at the Winter Olympics. This was also the year that Kath and Kim premiered on the ABC.

To bring us back to 2025, the Albanese Labor government's expanded Home Guarantee Scheme will mean a first home buyer can purchase a $1 million home with a $50,000 deposit. First home buyers could save up to 10 years on the time it takes to save for a deposit, saving about $42,000 in mortgage insurance, and could pay up to $350,000 towards their own loan instead of paying rent. Importantly, the government has consulted with industry and will direct Housing Australia to promote the diversity of lenders who offer the scheme, giving first home buyers greater choice to buy a home through smaller, customer owned and regional banks.

Since coming to office in 2022, Labor has helped over 180,000 first home buyers get a home of their own with a lower deposit, and the expanded scheme will help hundreds of thousands more Australians. It's important to note that the Home Guarantee Scheme is just one part of the Albanese Labor government's broader, $43 billion housing agenda that is focused on building more homes, getting more Australians into homeownership and getting a better deal for renters.

In its first term, this government began investing $43 billion in housing—eight times more than the coalition invested over a whole decade. It introduced a build-to-rent scheme that will help deliver 80,000 new rentals across the country, giving Australians more rental security. We've worked with states and territories to make renting fairer, with stronger protections for tenants. As a result, most states have now banned no-grounds evictions and put minimum standards in place.

We've delivered a 45 per cent increase in Commonwealth rent assistance, the biggest back-to-back increase in more than 30 years, helping over one million low-income Australian households pay the rent. We've made strong progress in delivering 55,000 social and affordable rental homes for the Australians who need it most. We've invested a record $1.2 billion into building new crisis and transitional accommodation to ensure that at-risk groups—including older women, younger Australians and those fleeing family and domestic violence—will have access to safe and stable housing. We've facilitated the training of more tradies through Labor's fee-free TAFE, and we've provided $10,000 incentive payments for apprentices in construction.

In addition to expanding the Home Guarantee Scheme, the re-elected Albanese government is committed to investing $10 billion to build up to 100,000 homes reserved only for first home buyers, with no competition from property investors. We're implementing our Help to Buy shared-equity scheme, which involves the Commonwealth government pitching in up to 40 per cent of the upfront cost of a home, making it easier for a first home buyer to purchase a home with a smaller mortgage. We're delivering a $54 million targeted investment in advanced manufacturing of prefabricated and modular home construction. We're providing $120 million from the National Productivity Fund to incentivise states to remove red tape and help more homes be built faster, and we're investing $78 million to fast-track the qualification of 6,000 tradies to help build more homes across Australia.

This is a very impressive program of work. The expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme will help many more Australians believe in the great Australian dream of homeownership, just like my grandparents and parents experienced. For all the reasons I've spoken about, I strongly support the minister's statement relating to five per cent deposits for all first home buyers.

See this speech in context