REIA welcomes Labor housing plan

The Real Estate Institute of Australia has welcomed a suite of housing policies announced this week by the leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister of housing.

REIA President Hayden Groves said the housing body welcomed the Opposition’s “Help to Buy” and “Help to Supply” announcements.

“We applaud the commitment to develop a national housing and homelessness plan, which is badly needed for all parties to come to the table and identify innovative solutions to unlock supply,” Groves said. “An evidence based approach to a national supply and affordability council with the right objective experts should provide a proper annual benchmark for Australia’s supply crunch. Only by dealing with supply will affordability barriers be overcome.”

Groves said that REIA also looked forward to more detail on the Opposition’s Help to Buy plan. Under the plan, the government would help eligible Australians onto the property ladder by contributing up to a 40% equity stake in a new home, and up to 30% for an existing home.

“The proposed KeyStart-style program help to buy for 10,000 eligible low- and middle-income earners a year is a sensible thing, and REIA has supported the development of a feasibility study for a national KeyStart-style program in the past,” he said. “Based on the median first-home buyer home loan of $459,256, this will generate around $4.5 billion each year in sales based on current market conditions.”

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While Groves acknowledged that the program would be expensive to administrate, he said that over the long term, the benefits of homeownership for Australians was clear.

“They live healthier, happier and more successful lives in their working life and retirement,” he said.

Groves said that a critical part of the Help to Buy program would be “the option for customers to buy back the equity stake that government takes over the long term to return to the private property market.”