5 June 2024

Building more homes for renters

Note

Joint media release with
The Hon Jim Chalmers MP
Treasurer

The Albanese Labor Government is working to boost the construction of rental housing as part of our comprehensive $32 billion Homes for Australia plan.

Today we have introduced legislation to deliver new tax incentives to encourage investment and construction in the build‑to‑rent sector.

Build‑to‑rent developments are specifically designed to be rented out rather than sold to individual buyers.

It’s a model that has been used successfully overseas to increase housing supply.

Attracting more investment in housing will support our ambitious national effort to build 1.2 million new, well‑located homes over five years from 1 July 2024.

We need to build more homes, more quickly, in all parts of Australia.

We’re working across Government, and with states and territories to help meet this target.

The new tax incentives will apply to build‑to‑rent projects, consisting of 50 or more apartments or dwellings, made available for rent to the general public.

The dwellings must be retained under single ownership for at least 15 years and a minimum 10 per cent of dwellings in a development need to be made available as affordable tenancies.

The incentives apply to eligible new projects that started construction after the policy’s announcement in last year’s Budget (7:30 pm AEST on 9 May 2023).

This legislation will operate separately from state and territory initiatives designed to support the build‑to‑rent sector.

Labor’s new laws will complement other measures put in place by the Albanese Labor Government to support renters, including the first back‑to‑back increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance in more than 30 years which will help nearly one million Australian households with the cost of rent.

Our big investment in housing in the Budget is all about building more homes for more Australians in more parts of the country and build to rent is an important part of that.

Through our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan we’re also kickstarting the construction of thousands of new social and affordable rental homes.