Labour’s new Help to Buy Scheme

Labour’s new Help to Buy Scheme - A lifeline that’s not only for First Home Buyers

Labour have just announced more details of their Help to Buy Scheme, a key promise in last year’s election. Yet to give a specific date for when the scheme will come into effect, Labour has assured the Australian people it will begin in 2024 and it will apply to 10,000 homes. 

Help to Buy is what’s known as a Shared Equity Scheme, allowing eligible home buyers to co-buy a home with the government. Purchaser’s will only need a 2% deposit and the scheme will provide an equity contribution of up to 40% of the property price for new homes and 30% for existing properties. You will also need to prove you can service your share of the loan, that you can pay all associated costs such as Stamp Duty, legal fees and bank fees and you must be able to pay all rates, strata and electricity bills. 

The scheme will run for 4 years and help 40,000 low and middle income earners to buy a home. To be eligible, you must be an Australian citizen over 18 years of age, your annual income must be $93,200 or less for individuals and $124,200 or less for couples and you must live in the purchased home. The scheme is available to First Home Buyers but also includes single parents, singles over 50 and First Home Buyer key workers who are employed as police, paramedics, nurses, midwives, teachers and early childhood educators. 

Sydneysiders will reap the biggest rewards, as you will be able to purchase a property for up to $950,000. When estimating how much you will save in real terms, Labour states that the scheme will help to cut the cost of a mortgage by up to $380,000 on a new home and $285,000 on a pre-existing home, depending on the price you pay for the property. 

To make it economically viable for the government to fund this, scheme participants will need to pay a component of any capital gain back to the government, which will be calculated in reference to the portion of the government’s equity share in the property. This equity only needs to be repaid on the sale of the property, but you can increase your stake in the home by paying a minimum of 5% towards the government’s share if and when you have any extra money. 

The major benefits of the scheme are would-be homeowners can get into the market far sooner than would otherwise be possible, the government will not charge any fees or interest, Lenders Mortgage Insurance will not need to be paid (potentially saving over $30,000) and the home loan amount and repayments will be far less than if the loan balance was for the full equity amount. 

Cramer have a number of outstanding apartments in excellent locations that meet the criteria for the Help to Buy Scheme, costing $950,000 or less. To find out more contact the Cramer team today.