Australian first home ownership assistance schemes: International comparison and assessment

Abstract

Australia, like most developed countries, has promoted homeownership as an express housing policy goal for many decades. Domestically and internationally, recent years have seen growing efforts to enhance access to owner-occupation for prospective first home buyers (FHBs). FHB assistance takes many forms. Presenting a new typology of such measures, our multi-method study investigates current approaches in Australia and in seven high-income comparator countries. Australia stands out for its modern emphasis on demand-side assistance (e.g., grants and tax concessions), rather than supply-side measures (e.g., government-developed housing for low-cost sale). Lately, several Australian governments (federal and state) have diversified approaches to FHB assistance, particularly via shared equity and low-deposit mortgage schemes, taking cues from international practice. While more administratively demanding, these types of assistance are considered attractive because they require little outlay or operate on a ‘revolving fund’ basis, with government potentially sharing capital gains. However, they potentially place governments even more among housing's ‘insiders’, with a material interest in continually rising prices.