Federal Budget 2021-22: A guide for property buyers

With a number of measures to encourage home ownership, and a massive infrastructure spend, the property markets are expected to continue in full swing off the back of the Federal Budget.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s 2021-22 Federal Budget is focussed on post-pandemic economic recovery, with aged care, childcare, infrastructure, tax relief and home buyer schemes being the key headlines.

New incentives are expected to add further stimulus to the housing markets, while a $15.2bn boost to infrastructure spending is expected to have a positive impact on new developments while also stimulating new jobs in the construction industry.

Australia’s post-pandemic recovery has been faster and fared much better than most countries around the world. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a budget deficit of $106.6 billion for 2021-22, which was little changed from the $108.5 billion deficit the Government forecast at the December 2020 mid-year economic and fiscal outlook.

Here is a quick summary of the property buyer schemes and incentives outlined in the latest Federal Budget:

Family Home Guarantee for single parents

This guarantee allows up to 10,000 single parents to purchase a home for as little as a 2 percent deposit over the next four years.

The scheme comes into effect from 1 July 2021, and has a similar price cap system to the existing First Home Buyer’s Scheme.

First Home Super Saver Scheme

This is a modification to the existing scheme, put in place four years ago. Now, first home buyers can make a withdrawal of up to $50,000 in voluntary super contributions – previously they could withdraw up to $30,000.

First Home Loan Deposit Scheme

The New Homes Guarantee which was launched last year has been extended to a second year, for an additional 10,000 applicants. Under this scheme, first home buyers can build a new home or purchase a newly-built residential property with a deposit of 5 percent.

Superannuation downsizer scheme

First introduced in 2017, this scheme incentivises downsizers by enabling participants to make a one-off $300,000 contribution to their super. Previously this was only available to Australians aged 65 or over, now it has been expanded to Australians aged 60 or over.

Home Builder scheme

The Home Builder scheme’s six-month construction period has been extended to 18 months for all applications.