Brokers play crucial role in ACT’s Affordable Home Scheme

Released in late June, the ACT budget incorporates measures to address the cost of living, enhance healthcare, and introduce various housing policies.

Despite a slight decline in house prices towards the end of 2022–23, Canberra, like the rest of Australia, continues to experience soaring property values.

Domain predicts that the capital will maintain its status as a city with a median house price of above $1 million over the next financial year.

Given the growing housing affordability concerns, the ACT budget allocates a $345 million investment to fund more build-to-rent projects, improve public housing through repairs and expansion, and facilitate the growth of the local community housing sector to cater to low-income and vulnerable residents in Canberra.

Another significant development is the establishment of a $60 million Affordable Housing Fund, the first of its kind in the capital, aimed at increasing the availability of affordable homes in the long term.

Affordable Home Purchase Scheme

The ACT government also highlighted its ongoing support for the Affordable Home Purchase Scheme, which assists low-to-moderate income households by offering homes at affordable prices once they secure a mortgage.

The program, managed by the Suburban Land Agency (SLA), has already provided a range of houses, town houses, terraces, and apartments to eligible buyers.

Since its launch in 2020, the scheme has enabled over 400 individuals or families to become home owners.

Under the Affordable Home Purchase Scheme, land sites are sold to developers with a requirement to make more than 350 affordable homes available in the coming years.

An SLA spokesperson informed The Adviser that participants in the program can purchase homes at fixed price thresholds, with the prices for 2023–24 outlined as follows:

• Up to 80m² — $357,785
• Between and including 80m² and 105m² — $413,079
• More than 105m² — $470,542

“After being offered an opportunity and found eligible, buyers need to secure their own finance to purchase their home,” the spokesperson said.

“They will need to have access to a deposit, which will vary depending on the particular terms of their contract for sale but is usually 10–20 per cent.

“Buyers will also need to seek a home loan from their own mortgage broker to enable them to fund their purchase.”

To qualify for the Affordable Home Purchase Scheme, households must have an annual income below $100,000 for any number of adults and up to two children under 18.

The income threshold increases to $116,000 for households with three children, $132,000 for households with four children, and $148,000 for households with five or more children.

ACT government releases land

As part of the budget, the ACT government also allocated $11 million to support further land releases and introduced planning reforms to enable the private market to contribute to new housing developments.

Over the next five years, the government plans to release various greenfield and infill sites capable of accommodating more than 16,000 dwellings.

Furthermore, the new planning system aims to facilitate the growth of low and medium-density housing in existing suburbs.

The government also reduced stamp duty, focusing on the lowest thresholds for owner-occupiers. As a result of these tax reforms, the stamp duty on a $900,000 home purchased in 2023–24 is $14,896 less than it would have been without the changes.

Executive director of the Property Council’s ACT and capital region division, Shane Martin, welcomed the reforms highlighting the affordable housing pressures faced by home owners in the territory.

He said the appeal of the ACT had increased driving upward pressure on housing affordability.

“The key to affordability lies in increasing supply and the government is taking steps to expand housing stock across the board,” Mr Martin said.

“The recently passed Planning Bill sets the foundation for increased housing supply and we look forward to the release of a revised Territory Plan and District Strategies to make this happen.

“We are particularly pleased to see additional measures to promote land release.”

However, Mr Martin said the changes to the Lease Variation Charges (LVC) were not supported with the industry facing so much economic volatility.

“Now is not the time to be increasing LVC,” he said.

“The Property Council now calls on the government to take a fresh look at some of the ageing office stock in our strategic centres.

“Incentivising adaptive reuse can minimise embodied carbon implications for our climate, while reinvigorating old buildings and providing for better night-time activation of our centres.”

[Related: Home Guarantee Scheme to expand from 1 July]