Regional postcodes swamped the housing assistance take-up in Queensland, leaving the capital out of the top 10.
Queensland homebuyers nabbed the largest share of federal housing assistance in the country as affordability nosedived, latest data shows.
Latest annual figures from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation – which administers the federal government’s home guarantee scheme – found Qld made up the largest cohort at around 29 per cent in the 2021-22 financial year.
During a presentation of the data, NHFIC chief executive Nathan Dal Bon said it “greatly outpaced broader population and lending distributions”.
And, he said, “regional Qld was also well represented, accounting for around 40 per cent of guarantees in regional areas including Mackay, Toowoomba, Ipswich and Townsville”.
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Nathan Dal Bon, chief executive of the Federal Government’s National Housing and Investment Corporation. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian.
In contrast, NSW which has about 31 per cent of the country’s population had around 25 per cent of guarantees and Victoria (about 25 per cent of population) was around 23 per cent.
Queensland’s most active postcode for take-up of federal housing guarantees was 4740, which is Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday.
Toowoomba (4350) had the second highest take-up of assistance, followed by 4305 – which is Ipswich Inner and Hinterland.
Homebuyers in 4207 had the fourth highest level which covers parts of the Gold Coast, Logan and Beaudesert.
Townsville had two postcodes highly active in the top 10 – 4818 covering Burdell-Mount Low which was in fifth spot and 4814 Mount Louisa-Heatley in eighth position.
The 4740 postcode, which is Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday, topped Qld’s take-up of federal housing assistance. Picture: Rae Wilson.
Rockhampton (4701) and Gladstone (4680) were sixth and seventh, with Ipswich (4301) ninth and the Gold Coast’s 4209 postcode of Pimpama-Coomera rounding out Queensland’s top 10.
The Home Guarantee Scheme includes the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, New Home Guarantee, Family Home Guarantee and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, with a further intiative set to be rolled out this year.
Mr Dal Bon said around one in seven first homebuyers in Australia bought homes in the 2021-22 year with the help of the federal Home Guarantee Scheme – a big jump from one in 10 the previous year.
“More younger cohorts accessed the HGS than in previous years, he said, with 18 per cent of guarantees issued to 18 to 24 year olds.
Over one in four guarantees (about 27 per cent) went to “key workers including teachers, nurses and social workers”, the data found.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver the 2022-23 October Budget. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass.
NHFIC believes that without the home guarantee scheme, homebuyers would have had to delay their property purchase by around five years to save their entire 20 per cent deposit.
“Recent survey of HGS participants showed that without access to the HGS, one in five buyers would not have been able to purchase in the foreseeable future.”
The next round of homebuyers assistance funding will be known in a fortnight’s time when Federal Treasurer and Member for Rankin Jim Chalmers – who has been in the job since May this year – will deliver the 2022-23 October Budget.
