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The Australian government should be looking to New Zealand’s Kiwisaver scheme as an example of how to improve the country’s declining home ownership rates, claims the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA).
The New Zealand government encourages young kiwis to contribute to voluntary superannuation via the Kiwisaver scheme by allowing access to their resources to assist in buying a home.
“With over 82% of all Australian households holding at least some savings in their superannuation account and the average value across all households at $142,429 (HILDA Survey), some access to these sources could reverse the current trend of declining home ownership,” says REIA president, Peter Bushby.
In New Zealand, KiwiSaver is a voluntary, work-based saving initiative to help New Zealanders with their long-term saving for retirement. The initiative has two features to help many kiwis to get their foot in the property market:
• KiwiSaver home purchase withdrawal scheme and
• KiwiSaver home deposit subsidy scheme.
“Both of these features can also be used to help with the overall deposit when buying land to build a first home house on. Furthermore, if a person has previously owned a home but is currently in a similar financial position to a first home buyer, they may still be eligible for both features,” says Bushby.
