Recently elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a glimpse into the future of the conveyancing industry, announcing the ‘Help to Buy’ policy last week, which would permit young and low to medium income earners the chance to join property ownership sooner.
The ‘Help to Buy’ policy, announced by Albanese, would see a Labor government that would pay for up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home and up to 30 per cent of the purchase price for an existing home.
If implemented, it will allow for up to 10,000 households a year to enter the property market, generating sustainable business for conveyancers into the future.
Help to Buy breakdown
According to the policy outline, in Sydney and NSW regional centres, the property price would be capped at $950,000 and could save homebuyers up to $380,000 on a new house and $285,000 on an existing house.
In Melbourne and Victorian regional centres, the property price cap of $850,000 would save people $340,000 on a new house and $255,000 on an existing house.
The policy also offers owners the chance to buy out the government’s stake of the house over time, or simply leave the share-ownership structure in place.
As part of the conditions, the owner would have to live in the property for two years and, if an owners’ income increased, they would be required to start purchasing more of the property.
When a property is sold, the government would take its portion of whatever capital gains have been made.
Under the recently released final 2022/23 budget, the Federal government, announced the extension of the Home Guarantee Scheme, which supports first-home buyers to enter the market with a deposit as low as 2 per cent, rather than 20 per cent, with the government underwriting the difference.
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