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The vote on the federal government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme has been postponed for an additional two months.
The government’s long-delayed shared equity scheme that aims to support more first home buyers into market has been delayed further after the Australian Green Party and the Coalition voted to postpone voting on the bill.
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Labor’s Help to Buy scheme, which was first announced by the Albanese government in 2022 as part of the Safer and more affordable housing measure, aims to support up to 40,000 Australian households to purchase a home of their own.
Under Help to Buy, low- to middle-income earners would only be required to have a deposit of 2 per cent (or more) to qualify for a standard home loan with a participating lender without needing to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).
The Commonwealth would provide an equity contribution to eligible participants for up to 40 per cent of the purchase price for new homes and up to 30 per cent for existing homes, which will be recognised as a second mortgage (or other right secured against the property).
The scheme – which will be administered by Housing Australia – will be means-tested (income limits are $90,000 for singles and $120,000 for couples) with property price caps for each city and region.
The bill to bring the scheme into being has been in a quagmire since February, with the Coalition opposing the scheme entirely and the Greens refusing to vote for the bill until changes are made (for example, by making tax changes for investors, such as removing negative gearing, etc).
The Albanese government had hoped for a vote on the bill to take place in Senate this week, but the Greens and the Coalition have instead voted to postpone it.
The bill will not be considered again until 26 November 2024, at which point a vote on the bill will happen immediately.
‘The Liberals and Greens are teaming up to get in the way’, says Albanese
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has grown weary of the delays, taking to Twitter on Wednesday (18 September) to say: “Australians want their leaders to act now to make housing more affordable. This is too important to wait.
“Yet today, the Liberals and Greens teamed up to block more help to buy a home. Help to Buy would mean a smaller deposit and getting first home owners in the door faster.
“We won’t wait around while the Liberals and Greens play politics, which is why we’re rolling out our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan.
“We’ve got an ambitious target of 1.2 million new homes, and we’re getting on with building tens of thousands more social and affordable homes. We’re working with states and territories to cut red tape and speed up approvals, and we’re training a huge number of tradies at fee-free TAFE to build more homes. We’ve boosted rent assistance, and we’re renovating vacant properties so families can move in.
“We’re stepping up to help more Australians buy a home. The Liberals and Greens are teaming up to get in the way.”
As a rebuttal, the Leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt said: “Renters and first home buyers across the country are at breaking point, but Labor’s housing policy will push up rents and house prices for everyone.
“Labor now has two months to get serious about the housing crisis. The Greens are willing to negotiate. The time is ticking for the Prime Minister to stop bulldozing and let his ministers negotiate with the Greens to pass this bill.
“This is a test for Labor. Do they want this bill to pass, or are they trying to make it fail? While Anthony Albanese is refusing to let his ministers negotiate with the Greens, the housing crisis is just getting worse, and renters are being pushed to the brink.
“The Greens want Labor to negotiate seriously and to wind back tax handouts for wealthy property investors, work with the states to cap and freeze rents, and build public housing for all.”
The issues with bills being stuck in Senate raise the possibility of a double dissolution of Parliament, which can be called by the Prime Minister when the upper house rejects a government bill twice over the course of at least three months.
The government could take this delay as its first “failure to pass,” as it did in the case of the HAFF bill.
That would mean that a second rejection later this year would give the Prime Minister the power to call an election that brings every Senate seat into question, rather than the usual half-Senate election.
A double dissolution election is still regarded unlikely, but the Prime Minister did not rule out exercising the option when queried on Tuesday, saying he would “wait and see”.
[Related: Brokers need to be included in Help to Buy scheme: MFAA]
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