The needs of first-time buyers are back on the political agenda now the next federal election is just around the corner.
The election is now confirmed as May 3. And the Labor Government is moving to further ease the pressures on first homebuyers, and capture their support.
It has announced an increase in price caps in its “Help to Buy” scheme.
The scheme was promised before the last election but won’t come on line until later this year after a political battle to get it through Parliament.
It allows 40,000 homebuyers to “co-buy” with public money from the Government.
The Government would fund up to 30% of the price of an existing home and 40% of a new home. When you sell, then the Government would recoup the appropriate percentage of the profit.
In terms of income cap, singles can now earn up to $100,000 before being disqualified from the program. Caps climb to $160,000 from $120,000 for couples and single parents.
Price caps have also been revised. The biggest move has been for Sydney, where the cap will rise $1.3m, up from $950,000. In Brisbane it goes from $700,000 to $1 million, and $850,000 to $950,000 for Melbourne.
The Government’s move to sweeten the pot for first-time buyers comes as the latest research shows national property values moved into positive territory for the first time in three months.
Values posted a 0.3% rise in February, ending a short-lived downturn, according to the latest Home Value Index run by CoreLogic.
The monthly gains were marginal in each capital city with Melbourne and Hobart leading the way (both +4%) .
Sydney’s +0.3% growth was driven by improvements in the upper end of the market. The lower quartile, which has seen price growth of 9.8% over the past 12 months, may be cooling.
The double-digit heat is also coming out of the Brisbane (+0.2%), Perth (+0.3%) and Adelaide (+0.3%) markets.
Other key findings in the report –
- Regional housing markets (+0.4%) value growth continued to outpace the combined capitals (+0.3%) in February.
- National rents rose +0.6% in February, the strongest monthly gain since May last year.
- Gross rental yields have risen slightly to 3.72% from a recent low of 3.65%.