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at 2:00 pm on May 12, 2021 | 20 comments
CoreLogic’s head of research, Eliza Owen, has released a note explaining the federal budget’s housing policy changes:
Housing affordability is becoming an increasing concern for first home buyers and policy makers amid recent, rapid price increases. But the double-edged sword of reducing housing values to make them more affordable, is that housing also makes up the majority of Australian household wealth; make housing more affordable for one Australian, and we risk reducing the wealth for another.
In contrast to the Labor party platform of reducing housing demand through the 2016 and 2018 elections (via reducing or removing incentives for housing investors), the federal government have utilised a different approach to boosting the rate of home ownership. They focus on increasing accessibility of mortgages, rather than risking any downward pressure on residential property prices.
Industry Bodies Welcome Home Ownership Initiatives in 2021 Budget
The Australian housing and mortgage sectors are commending the federal governments new and expanded measures announced in the Federal Budget on Tuesday to help more Australians become homeowners and, in turn, drive economic recovery.
Property Council of Australia (PCA) chief executive Ken Morrison said in a statement that the PCA commended the federal government for the strong management of Australia’s “remarkable recovery” and welcomed the newly introduced measures.
“The Government has overseen a remarkable economic rebound,” Morrison said. “These new initiatives build off a year of support and stimulus measures which have enabled the property industry to lead Australia’s recovery from the global pandemic.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg: the government has ruled out bringing forward stage three of its income tax cut package.Â
Alex Ellinghausen
Retirees
People who downsize their family home and are rewarded by being able to contribute $300,000 to superannuation ($600,000 for couples) will be able to do so at age 60, down from 65.
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The budget will abolish the work test, which requires those aged between 67 and 74 to be gainfully employed for at least 40 hours over 30 consecutive days during the financial year before concessional or non-concessional superannuation contributions can be made.
Infrastructure
The $100 billion, 10-year infrastructure program will be boosted by another $10 billion, with the extra funding spread across eight road projects, the biggest of which will be $2.03 billion for the upgrade of the Great Western Highway.
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