A prominent politician has thrown support behind calls to allow first homebuyers to access their superannuation to pay for a house deposit.
HomeStart chief executive John Oliver told a Senate Economics References Committee meeting yesterday that Australia should implement a scheme similar to one in Canada which allows Canadian first homebuyers to access up to $25,000 for a deposit. Now, high-profile independent Senator Nick Xenophon has voiced his support for the idea.
“With more and more Australians finding it difficult to break into home ownership, adopting the Canadian scheme would make a difference to many thousands of Australians each year,” Xenophon said.
Xenophon argued that the scheme has made a dramatic difference to housing affordability in Canada. He said it has safeguards in place which could be implemented in Australia, including the requirement to repay the super fund within 15 years of a home purchase.
“As HomeStart Finance said today, there’s something strange about being able to access your super fund if you are about to default on your housing loan, but you can’t access it to put a deposit on a home in the first place," Xenophon said.
