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The national housing agency’s loans have supported the supply of more than 2,400 social and affordable homes across Australia.
Housing Australia approved almost $880 million in Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA) loans last year, according to the national housing body’s Social Bond Report 2023–24.
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The report showed $876.8 million in AHBA loans were approved during the financial year ending June 2024 (FY24), supporting the supply of 2,400 social and affordable homes across Australia.
Since its inception, Housing Australia has approved $4.1 billion in AHBA loans to registered community housing providers to support the development of more than 18,800 social and affordable homes.
The AHBA loans have helped the sector save an estimated $740 million in interest and fees.
Housing Australia CEO Scott Langford said the body had played a significant role in contributing to the growth of Australia’s social bond market by establishing social and affordable housing as a recognised asset class to deliver more safe and secure homes.
“Our ambitions remain focused on further driving investments to an underserved market through continued participation in the Australian debt capital markets to build larger, more liquid bond lines over time that can facilitate investment to increase the supply of social and affordable housing across Australia,” Langford said.
Budgeted housing measures
During the release of the 2024/25 federal budget, the government announced that it was supporting more community housing providers to access finance through the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator by increasing the cap on the government’s guarantee of Housing Australia’s liabilities by $2.5 billion to $10.0 billion (with an associated increase in the line of credit that supports the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator of $3.0–$4.0 billion).
At the time, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said these measures would contribute to goals to deliver an additional $1.9 billion in loans to help build 40,000 social and affordable homes.
“We have also secured the national housing agreement, which would otherwise have run out,” he said.
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