In the house: PM announces extension to First Home buyer’s scheme

THE Morrison Government is extending its support for people looking to buy a house for the first time, and is reissuing unused guarantees in the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited a building site in Charlemont on Thursday last week to officially announce the extension alongside Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson and Liberal candidate for Corangamite Stephanie Asher.

In the coming weeks, as many as 4,651 unused guarantees in the scheme from the 2020-21 financial year will be reissued to first home buyers who haven’t had an opportunity to purchase their first home, including because of COVID disruptions.

The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is one of three measures in the Morrison Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme, alongside the New Home Guarantee and the Family Home Guarantee.

In Greater Geelong, 577 homes have been taken up under the schemes between January 1, 2020 and December 6 this year.

Mr Morrison said his government had put just over 300,000 Australians into a home over the past four years.

“The average time that we’ve been able to save people on our First Home Loan Deposit Scheme … is four years,” he said.

“That’s four years of saving they didn’t have to do.

“That’s four years of price increases they would have had to pay for that would have gone on top of their mortgage. And this is an extraordinary outcome.

“This is one of the most important objectives of our government. We want to see people get in their homes. We want to see people get into jobs. We want to see people ensure that they can get the training they need.”

Last week’s visit was Mr Sukkar’s third to a construction site in the Armstrong Creek growth area to promote the government’s housing support measures since April, and the second in less than a month.

Mr Sukkar said the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme had helped 60,000 Australians get into their first home with a deposit of as little as five per cent.

“A program that we announced in the Budget, the Family Home Guarantee, which supports single parents – 84 per cent of which are single mothers – into a home with a deposit of as little as two per cent, has exceeded all of our wildest expectations and has seen more than 2,000 people just in the last few months purchase their first home for them and their families,” he said.

“Of the more than 300,000 Australians that have been able to purchase a home with the direct support of the Morrison Government, just over 200,000 of those are people who utilised the HomeBuilder program.”

For more information, head to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s website.