More than 52,000 women, including 16,000 single women, have achieved home ownership over the past two years with the help of a federal government program, new figures reveal.
Under the home guarantee scheme, the government provides a guarantee of up to 15 per cent for first-home buyers, and up to 18 per cent for single parents.
The scheme was significantly expanded last year to allow non-first home buyers who had not owned a property in the past 10 years access, and in doing so helped 311 women who had fallen out of home ownership back into the market.
Labor said that change was particularly aimed at supporting Australian women who fell out of homeownership due to financial stress or relationship breakdowns.
Celebrating the scheme’s success on International Women’s Day, Housing Minister Julie Collins said the government was proud of the work it had done to help women break into, or back into, the housing market, and was keen to get those numbers even higher.
“We know there is more work to do, which is why Help to Buy is so important,” she said.
“Help to Buy will be a lifeline to Australians who have fallen out of home ownership, including for older women who face unique challenges due to financial crisis or relationship breakdown.
“Help to Buy will be life changing, bringing home ownership back into reach for thousands of Australians.”
Ms Collins called on the Liberals and Greens to “stop standing in the way” of the shared equity scheme, that would give 40,000 low and middle-income earners over four years a chance to co-purchase a home with the government.
During an inquiry into the Bill on Tuesday, Grattan Institute economist Brendan Coates said the scheme would be of particular benefit to older Australians, especially single women.
“(Owning a home) basically secures their economic security heading into retirement,” he said.
The scheme has passed the House of Representatives without the support of the Coalition or the Greens, but will need backing to get it through the Senate where Labor does not have the numbers.
The Coalition have ruled out supporting the scheme, while the Greens say they will only vote for it if the government winds back negative gearing and cuts capital gains tax concessions.
The Greens’ housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather used a National Press Club speech on Wednesday to announce the party’s election pitch, outlining a plan for a public property developer to be set up.
The Greens’ plan would build 360,000 homes over five years for renters and first-home buyers to rent and purchase for below-market cost.
Mr Chandler-Mather called on the government to do more than just “tinkering around the edges”, warning that would do little to solve the “serious crisis”.
“There’s a lot of people like me around this country that aren’t in parliament, young renters – angry and upset with the political class that has me sitting here as a renter debating the head of the Property Council about solving the housing crisis,” he said in his panel with Property Council chief Mike Zorbas.
“I think over the next few years, the entire political class is going to find out what happens when you ignore that one third of this country is getting screwed over by a housing system that funnels billions of dollars into the people that don’t need it right now.”