Making housing more
affordable

Helping first home buyers

Saving for a deposit is a major barrier to buying a first home.

The Government will provide $1.2 billion over four years in the Budget to assist first home buyers to save for a home.

Enhanced First Home Saver Accounts will provide a simple, tax effective way for Australians to save for their first home. The Government will provide people saving for a first home with direct contributions into the accounts and only tax earnings in the account at a low rate. The first $5,000 of individual contributions to these accounts each year will now attract a 17 per cent Government contribution, providing

more assistance to average income earners. Earnings will be taxed at a low rate of 15 per cent. Withdrawals from the account will be tax free when used to buy or build a first home.

Helping renters and boosting housing supply

The Government is committing $623 million over four years to the National Rental Affordability Scheme to encourage the construction of affordable rental housing.

The Scheme will provide investors with $8,000 annually for ten years for each new dwelling that is rented out to low income tenants at least 20 per cent below the market rate.

The Housing Affordability Fund will help improve housing supply and reduce costs to home buyers by cutting red tape and reducing the costs of providing new housing‑related infrastructure, at a cost of $500 million over five years.

Up to $30 million of the Fund has been committed to rolling out the Electronic Development Assessment project to speed up planning approval processes.

In addition, the Government will identify surplus Commonwealth land that could be used for new housing.

The Government will also establish a National Housing Supply Council, which will assess the adequacy of housing supply over the next 20 years.