Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government's home guarantee schemes are accelerating the dream of Australians to own their own home? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid for her question. She is a champion for first home buyers in her electorate. In fact, under our Prime Minister, we are a government for first home buyers. There is no doubt about that.

One of the solemn commitments that we took to the last election was to establish under our Home Guarantee Scheme, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which would help first home buyers purchase their first home with a deposit of as little as five per cent. In the approximately 18 months since the establishment of that program, more than 53,000 Australians have been able to get into their first home with the help of the Morrison government's Home Guarantee Scheme.

Building on the remarkable success of that program, in the last budget, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and I were very proud to announce a new aspect of the Home Guarantee Scheme, which was the Family Home Guarantee. We understood that, yes, for first home buyers getting a deposit together is the hardest part of getting into a home. But if you are a single parent trying to raise children and paying for their education and paying for your rent, purchasing a home—a first home in many cases—is extraordinarily difficult. So we put in place the Family Home Guarantee, which helps single parents purchase a home with a deposit of as little as two per cent.

Well more than 1,500 single parents have now purchased their new home, and this has only been in place since the beginning of this financial year. And we are starting to see some wonderful stories coming through. I've got some really heart-warming testimonials from single parents who have utilised this scheme. I received a note from single mother Nicole. It's fair to say that 84 per cent of single parents in Australia are women. Nicole sent this to me: 'With the amount of rent we were paying we were never going to be able to save enough for a deposit. The Family Home Guarantee has given us the ability to buy without having to try and come up with a huge deposit. Buying a house means we get to make memories in a house we'll never have to leave.' That's why we extended this scheme to single parents. I received this testimonial from single mother Cindy: 'Not having to pack up and move around if the landlord sells the place and not having to live through inspections every three months—this has changed my life.'

Through not only the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme but also the Home Builder Program, 135,000 Australians and their families have been helped into homeownership. When you add them together, 200,000 Australian families have been enabled to get into a home with the support of the Morrison government. We are a government for first home buyers.