85% of Family Home Guarantee supplied to single mothers

The federal government has announced that the vast majority of those who have received guarantees under the Family Home Guarantee have been women, with 85 per cent of the recipients being single mothers. 

First launched in July 2021, the Family Home Guarantee is an initiative launched by the Morrison government as a means to allow greater access to home ownership for single parents with dependent children. 

Under the scheme, a maximum of 18 per cent of the necessary home loan is guaranteed by the National Housing finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), allowing single parents to purchase a home sooner without paying LMI. 

A total of 10,000 Family Home Guarantees will be made over four consecutive financial years, ending 30 June 2025. 

Since July 2021, the Family Home Guarantee has been provided to 2,343 single parents across the country. 

The federal Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Homelessness, Social and Community Housing, Michael Sukkar, commented that “we know the importance to women that home ownership brings”. 

“It offers dignity, creates stability and allows the opportunity for women in this country to chart their own course in life,” Mr Sukkar said.

According to a statement from the minister, the federal government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS), the New Home Guarantee and the Family Home Guarantee have assisted a combined total of almost 60,000 Australians. 

The figures highlight overall benefits for many Australians likely to have been blocked out from the housing market. However, they haven’t been without criticism. 

A statutory review of the operation of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) Act 2018, published last year, reported that the FHLDS largely benefited first home buyers who would have been already able to purchase a property within one or two years. 

Earlier, this year, the Real Estate Institute of Australia filed its pre-budget submission to the federal government, calling for both an extended and expanded FHLDS in the wake of rising house prices, joining similar calls made by the Housing Industry Association.  

[Related: NHFIC seeks more lenders for home-ownership schemes]