Economic News, Investor News

Australian Political Party Policies On Home Ownership In 2010

The Housing Industry Association of Australia approached all major political parties and asked the hard questions regarding critical policy issues.

What is the policy position taken by each major party including the Australian Labor Party, The Liberal National Coalition and The Greens. Find out about home ownership

Home Ownership

Do you consider it appropriate for the Commonwealth to deliver programs to encourage home ownership? What initiatives would you adopt?

Labor -

The Gillard Labor Government recognises the importance of home ownership to Australians. That is why Federal Labor introduced new, low tax, First Home Saver Accounts to assist first home buyers in meeting this challenge.

The Accounts complement Federal Labor’s policies to increase the supply of affordable housing including the Housing Affordability Fund, National Rental Affordability Scheme, sustainable cities program and the release of surplus Commonwealth land. The Government also doubled the First Home Owner’s Grant for first purchasers of existing homes, and tripled it for new homes, to support home buyers during the global financial crisis.

Coalition -

 The Coalition is committed to making homes more affordable so more Australians can realise the dream of home ownership. We believe home ownership should be encouraged, and we support government measures that encourage home ownership.

The Coalition has a strong track record of providing strong, sustainable economic growth with low unemployment and relatively low interest rates. In these conditions, more Australians have the ease and the confidence to pursue the dream of home ownership. The last Coalition government provided more than $5.9 billion to first home buyers, under the First Home Owners Grant scheme. We provided more than $2 billion annually in Rent Assistance to more than 900,000 low income earners residing in private rental accommodation.

Greens -

The Australian Greens supported the introduction of the First Home Saver Accounts in 2008, and Senator Scott Ludlam’s speech about the First Home Saver Account can be read here:
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speech/first-home-saver-account.

As Senator Ludlam pointed out in his speech, first home saver accounts have the potential to assist first home buyers to save for a deposit on a home loan and thereby avoid getting into trouble with under-capitalised mortgages that they cannot afford. The scheme is also a less inflationary and more fiscally responsible policy than the First Home Owner’s Grant, as it encourages people to save first and take their time to enter the housing market, rather than placing artificial pressure on first home owners to purchase during a time of inflated housing prices and low interest rates, leaving them highly vulnerable to mortgage stress or even defaults in the future.
We do however believe the scheme has some limitations and have suggested ways it could be improved. For example we believe the 15 per cent tax rate on earnings from a first home saver account is good for higher income earners who ordinarily have their income taxed at a higher rate, but is not beneficial for lower income earners who may have all of their income taxed at this rate anyway. We would also like to see the scheme means-tested, to make sure that our public resources are properly targeted and the policy is fair. We welcome the introduction of new eligibility criteria in this budget so that it cannot be accessed by people

Source: HIA Media Release

 Subscribe to our FREE newsletter or RSS feed. Receive updates in My Yahoo!, Google, and others. .