Meanwhile, the prime minister downplayed Hume’s remarks, saying she was talking about the policy in isolation, arguing that when combined with other Coalition measures such as its “downsizing” plan the impact on house prices would be “marginal”.
Morrison also unveiled a policy on Sunday to allow Australians over the age of 55 to “downsize” their homes and put up to $300,000 from the proceeds, per person, into super funds outside existing contribution caps.
“The number one issue that forces up housing prices in this country is insufficient supply and this policy – the downsizing policy, the Home Builder policy – has all been about increasing and supporting that supply,” Morrison said.
“So when taken together … when you look at the proportion of first home buyers of the entire real estate market, it’s quite marginal. It’s quite marginal. So I know Labor doesn’t like this idea. I know Labor doesn’t want you to have access to your super.”
Asked whether the government had modelled the impact of the policy on house prices, Morrison did not answer, saying instead he did not want to give the criticism “currency”.
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“I simply just don’t agree with the assertion in the first place that this would have a negative impact because you have to look at the balance of policies that this is addressing,” he said.
Under the scheme, first home buyers would be able to apply to the Australian Tax Office for approval to withdraw up to 40 per cent of their super funds, up to a maximum of $50,000, for a home deposit. If they sold the home, they would have to return the cash to their super fund along with a share of the capital gains.
It would be able to be used alongside the home guarantee scheme and the first home super saver scheme.
Hume also did not respond directly on whether the government had modelled how many people would potentially take up the scheme, but said there were about 100,000 first home buyers every year.
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“Even if all of them took up the offer to do this, it is [a] very small proportion of the housing market, which is a $9.9 trillion market. Even if they each bought a $600,000 home that’s really only less than 1 per cent of the housing market,” Hume said.
“Currently it takes around 11 years for people to save for a deposit. This will reduce it by around three years for the average person buying the average size home.”
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Liberal minister admits super-for-housing policy could ‘bump’ home prices
Source: Philippines Alive
