The Morrison Government is providing an additional $2 billion in low‑cost financing to the Morrison Government’s National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), which will further support the provision of social and affordable homes for vulnerable Australians, bringing the total liability cap to $5.5 billion.
The increase to the liability cap of NHFIC’s Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA) will support 27,500 dwellings.
Since its establishment in 2018, the NHFIC has supported 15,000 homes through low‑cost loans to Community Housing Providers.
By expanding NHFIC’s liability cap by an additional $2 billion to $5.5 billion, the pipeline of housing development will be able to continue, and at the same time give the confidence needed to attract private investment.
The NHFIC Board has approved loans to registered Community Housing Providers (CHPs) totalling $2.9 billion to date and have projects totalling a further $1 billion in the pipeline. The Government’s action today will underwrite NHFIC’s ability to continue to support the delivery of stable and secure accommodation to those in need.
This is in addition to the doubling of the Morrison Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme, also administered by NHFIC with a panel of lenders, to make available up to 50,000 places each year, including a new Regional Home Guarantee open to non‑first home buyers. This will enable even more Australians to achieve their aspirations of owning a home.
Under the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme, the Government will make available:
- 35,000 guarantees each year, up from the current 10,000, from 1 July 2022 under the First Home Guarantee, to support eligible first homebuyers to purchase a new or existing home with a deposit as low as five per cent;
- 10,000 guarantees each year from 1 October 2022 to 30 June 2025 under a new Regional Home Guarantee, to support eligible homebuyers, including non‑first home buyers and permanent residents, to purchase or construct a new home in regional areas, subject to the passage of enabling legislation;
- 5,000 guarantees each year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025 to expand the Family Home Guarantee announced in last year’s budget. Australia’s first ever specifically targeted single parent family housing scheme supports eligible single parents with children to buy their first home or to re‑enter the housing market with a deposit of as little as two per cent; and
- The Government is also announcing it will legislate, amendments to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Investment Mandate Direction 2018 to implement key components of the Government’s response to the Statutory Review of the Operation of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act 2018 (the Review).
These amendments will enhance NHFIC’s ability to deliver improved housing outcomes by building on the success of the AHBA, which has become a vital financial intermediary between the social and affordable housing sector and private capital markets. Consistent with the recommendations of the Review, the amendments will position NHFIC to leverage greater private sector investment in the delivery of new social and affordable housing, ensuring that NHFIC can build upon its considerable early success and meet its objectives of improving housing outcomes for all Australians.