Save Money! First Home Buyer Policy Gets a Major Upgrade After the Election

The Australian federal election has concluded, with the Labor Party continuing in government. Below are its key property policies and their expected impact:

1) Labor has pledged to invest A$10 billion in housing construction, comprising A$2 billion in grants and A$8 billion in low-interest loans, working with the construction industry to build 100,000 homes for first-home buyers.

2) The First Home Guarantee scheme will be further expanded. Eligible buyers will need to pay as little as a 5% deposit, with the government guaranteeing up to 95% of the loan and waiving lenders mortgage insurance costs of up to A$20,000 to A$30,000. At the same time, the current income limits (previously A$125,000 for singles and A$200,000 for couples) and the annual cap of 50,000 applicants will be abolished, and property price thresholds across the states will be relaxed.

3) Queensland has introduced the First Home New Home Concession, which has no residency or price restrictions and directly waives all stamp duty. Overseas buyers only need to pay an additional 8% stamp duty.

4) To ease the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the construction industry, Labor will invest A$78 million to help experienced but unlicensed tradespeople gain qualifications through training, boosting the construction workforce.

Despite the ongoing rollout of policies to support home buyers, the core issue facing Australian property remains a shortage of supply. The federal, state and local governments each operate independently, making it difficult to coordinate solutions to problems such as land release, approval processes and labour shortages. If interest rates fall in the future, demand will rise further while supply cannot keep pace, potentially driving continued price growth and worsening the imbalance in the market.