Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he wants to see house prices “steadily increase”, as both leaders face questions over major policies targeting Australia’s housing crisis.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Mr Dutton unveiled competing plans to help more first home buyers break into the property market during their respective campaign launches on Sunday.
Under a Coalition plan, first revealed by the ABC, first-time buyers of newly constructed homes would be able to deduct interest payments on the first $650,000 of their mortgages from their income taxes.
Access to the scheme would be limited to five years, and it would only apply to Australians earning under a certain income threshold.
Housing affordability has emerged as a key election issue for hopeful first home buyers across the country who have been locked out of the property market due to rising prices.
When asked on Monday if he wanted house prices to go up or down, Mr Dutton replied: “I want to see them steadily increase.”
“I don’t want to see a situation where Labor crashes the economy and somebody who’s paid $750,000 for a house today is worth $600,000 in 18 months’ time under an Albanese government,” he told reporters in the Brisbane seat of Ryan.
“That would be a disaster.
“People will be sitting on a house that is worth less than what their mortgage is.“
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Mr Dutton used the opportunity to promote the Coalition’s election promise to cut net migration, which he said was a major driver of rising house prices under Labor.
“I want to make sure that house prices steadily increase, and we’ll do that if we get the supply-demand equation right,” he said.
“But if you flood the market with a million people over two years … well, of course all those people want houses as well.
“That’s why we’re cutting migration.”
Mr Albanese was quizzed in Adelaide on Monday about Labor’s housing plan, which he unveiled at the party’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday.
Anthony Albanese says Labor’s plan will help more Australians buy their first home. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)
A re-elected Labor government would allow all Australian first home buyers to purchase with a 5 per cent deposit, avoiding lenders mortgage insurance, under an expansion of an existing scheme.
Under the scheme, called the First Home Buyers Guarantee, the government effectively acts as a guarantor on the loan.
The government would also commit $10 billion to build 100,000 new homes exclusively for first home buyers.
Mr Albanese did not directly respond to a question over whether he wanted median house prices to drop, instead saying: “In Australia … prices tend to rise.”
“What we want to do is to make sure that people have accessibility for home ownership,” he said.
“What we want to do is to take away the disincentive, which is there where people just can’t get a deposit.”
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