Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A lot has been said in recent times about mortgage stress, and the government have come up with their plan. I now suggest a new approach, my own approach, to housing affordability. My proposal is aimed specifically at first home buyers. It is designed to provide them with achievable cost targets in order to help them buy a home quickly and their family to own it outright in the future. Firstly I propose that state and federal governments provide 50 per cent of their available and appropriate land for access under this scheme. By way of a local example for the people of the electorate of Cowan, I am talking about land such as the large tract of land which lies immediately north of the suburb of Ballajura. This could quite easily be rezoned to residential. After the state has provided that land, the federal government would be responsible for financing the development, subdivision and installation of infrastructure on that land.

Applicants for admission to the scheme would be homebuyers not investors and not currently owners of other property. For the life of the leasing arrangements the participants would not be allowed to purchase or own additional land, residential property or more than one business premises that they operate as a business themselves. This would ensure that these favourable terms were taken up by those people who really needed assistance—first home buyers—and would not allow investors to cash in. Applicants would be required to save a 15 per cent deposit for the cost of building a new home on the subject block of land. Once that 15 per cent was saved the applicant would then apply for a 100-year lease on the block with the subject subdivision and upon acceptance apply for a loan for the construction of a home.

The lease of the land would equate to a yearly fee equivalent to the rates and the lease fee would be paid to the relevant government or whoever developed the land. As usual rates would also be payable to the local government covering the area. Once the buyer has paid off their home loan they would then commence saving a 15 per cent deposit for the purchase of the land itself. Once that deposit figure was achieved they could then apply for a loan for the remainder of the cost of the land. That loan drawdown would then be paid to the original owner of the land—which in the case of this land, for example only, would be the state government.

The price of the land would increase by CPI per year from an agreed value at the start of the lease until the deposit and land loan funds were paid to the relevant government, at which time the lease payments would cease and the purchaser would own the building and land freehold—with the assistance of the lender, of course. From this point forward the further sale of the home would be at current market values and conditions. Under this lease proposal the buyer and their family would have 100 years of the lease during which they could buy the land. If they failed to do this then ownership of the land and the buildings upon it would revert to the relevant government; but 100 years is a long time, and these achievable objectives are exactly that—achievable.

My proposal strongly encourages saving and sacrificing to reach a deposit level of 15 per cent. It would dampen demand for luxury items and therefore be anti-inflationary in that respect. This proposal is not for investors; this proposal is for first home buyers. It is for those who are coming back from broken marriages and broken relationships and who want to start again but find it a difficult road to travel. It is for those who cannot realistically look beyond the financial horizon of the current challenges of demand for houses. It is for those people out there who need help to achieve the great Australian dream. That is core business for us all, and we should be there for those who need us.