Our Plan for Housing and Home Ownership

Under the Albanese Government, Australia is facing a housing crisis. The great Australian dream of home ownership has never felt further out of reach.

For families, first-home buyers, and renters, the dream of secure housing is slipping away.

The cost of borrowing has skyrocketed – for a family with a typical mortgage of $750,000 twelve interest rate rises added $50,000 in repayments since Labor took office.

Since the election, national rents have surged by 18 per cent. This is devastating for renters who aspire to own a home but see their hard-earned savings drained by relentless rent increases.

Labor’s promise to deliver 1.2 million new homes over five years is already a failure. Key industry stakeholders are estimating a shortfall of at least 400,000 homes.

Labor’s failed housing policies have put homeownership out of reach for Australians.

The Government has brought in more than one million migrants in just over two years, while fewer than 400,000 homes have been constructed in that time.

In just three years, Australia has lost over 90,000 apprentices and trainees across the country and we have seen a 30 per cent drop in new starts for construction trades.

Labor’s claim of an investment of $43 billion in housing is just another fraud on the Australian people – not a single new additional house has been completed under their promised housing policies from the last election.

We need to get our country back on track, and restore the Australian dream of home ownership.

Owning a home is life changing. A home isn’t just a financial asset. A home provides stability and security.

And the benefits of home ownership compound – from the individual, to the family, to the community, to the nation.

The Coalition has a plan to address Labor’s housing crisis, to boost supply across the country and help Australians get into their first home.

A Dutton Coalition Government will:

Unlock 500,000 new homes through our $5 billion Housing Infrastructure Programme, which will fund the critical enabling infrastructure – such as roads, water and sewerage – to increase the supply of housing.
Clear Labor’s backlog of more than 100 housing development projects, comprising tens of thousands of homes, currently stalled under the Commonwealth environmental approval process, to accelerate delivery of new housing.
Reduce migration to sustainable levels that our housing supply can handle, which will ultimately benefit both renters and aspiring homeowners by freeing up stock and reducing competition for housing.
Implement a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes to free up more homes for Australians.
Create the First Home Buyer Mortgage Deductibility Scheme to allow first home buyers who purchase a new property to live in, to claim a tax deduction for the interest payments on the first $650,000 of their mortgage for the first five years of their mortgage.
Establish the Super Home Buyer Scheme to allow first home buyers and older women the choice to access up to $50,000 of their own superannuation towards a deposit of a home.
Work with financial regulators to change lending rules to help young Australians access a mortgage, including reducing the overly cautious serviceability buffer.
Provide small and medium businesses with $12,000 to support putting on a new trainee or apprentice, with a focus on building and construction to help build our local workforce.
Deliver a new national network of Australian Technical Colleges, offering new pathways for students to fast track them to high-skilled and well-paying jobs in fields like housing and civil construction.
Freeze the National Construction Code for 10 years to cut red tape and reduce the compliance burden for new housing projects which are driving up costs for purchasers.
Tackle union corruption that has contributed to driving up the costs of building by 30 per cent, including restoring the Australian Building and Construction Commission and deregistering the lawless CFMEU.
Expand the Coalition’s Home Guarantee Scheme, established by the Coalition in 2020, to help first home buyers, regional Australians and single parent families buy a home with deposits of 2-5 per cent.
Review the existing First Home Super Saver scheme to make sure it is achieving the best outcomes for Australians using the mechanism.
Confirm there will be no changes to capital gains tax or negative gearing under a Coalition Government.

Our Plan

Boost Housing Supply

We will invest in shovel-ready enabling infrastructure, the lack of which is hindering the development of new housing, through a new Housing Infrastructure Programme.

An elected Coalition Government will commit $5 billion to get these projects moving, unlocking up to 500,000 homes to be delivered more quickly.

Based on significant consultation with industry and local governments around Australia, we know there are hundreds of greenfield sites across the country ready for development, but progress has been stalled due to a lack of funding for essential enabling infrastructure.

This includes new or upgraded housing project infrastructure such as:

Water, sewerage and stormwater
Access roads
Power
Telecommunications.

A target of 30 per cent of the $5 billion in funding will be for enabling infrastructure projects to unlock new housing in rural and regional Australia.

And to accelerate home construction to meet the needs of Australians, a Coalition Government will immediately take action to finalise existing residential development environmental approval applications.

There are more than 100 housing development projects for tens of thousands of homes currently stalled under Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek’s glacial environmental approval process.

We will set a target of clearing Labor’s backlog within 12 months and any project already stuck in the approvals process for more than a year will be finalised within 6 months.

We will establish Investment Australia to drive productivity reform across the economy, with a key focus on building and construction by:

expediting hundreds of project approvals;
setting firm timelines for each outstanding residential development project in collaboration with the relevant department; and
simplifying environmental assessment processes, including clarifying the rules for environmental offsets.

The Coalition will break through Labor’s bottlenecks and unlock new housing and deliver new supply. We will hold every part of government accountable to get the job done – because Australians cannot afford more Labor delays which only drive up housing costs.

Ease Demand

Amidst a housing crisis, Labor has brought in a record of more than one million migrants in just over two years, yet fewer than 400,000 dwellings were completed in that time.

While we celebrate the contribution of migrants, our program needs to be well managed.

To alleviate pressure on the housing market, we will put in place:

A 25% reduction in the permanent migration program for the first two years, from 185,000 to 140,000, to free up more homes for Australians. The program will continue at a reduced rate of 150,000 in year three and 160,000 in year four as the housing crisis is alleviated.
A return to the long-term average for the humanitarian program, reducing the intake to 13,750 places. While still one of the most generous programs globally on a per capita basis, this adjustment will relieve pressure on the housing market and ensure we can respond flexibly to humanitarian crises overseas.
We will work with universities to cap the number of foreign students. We will reduce the number of new international students commencing at public universities by at least 30,000 per year compared with Labor, freeing up housing supply in major metropolitan markets.
We will also tighten the enforcement of visa rules and review Temporary Graduate Visas to prevent the misuse of post-study work arrangements as a pathway to permanent migration.

By rebalancing the migration program, the Coalition will free up almost 40,000 additional homes in the first year. And well over 100,000 homes in the next five years.

Ban Foreign Investors and Temporary Residents

To further address the supply shortage of housing for Australians, the Coalition will implement a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes.

This will immediately free up housing stock for Australians looking to get into their first home or their next home.

This ban does not prohibit the purchase of new or near-new homes, in recognition of the role foreign investment often plays in “off the plan” purchases which support the pipeline of construction of new dwellings.

Create a New Generation of First Home Buyers

For generations, owning a home has been a cornerstone of the Australian dream and a source of security, stability and pride. Today, obtaining a home has become harder than ever before.

Our plan will help the next generation of First Home Buyers achieve the dream of home ownership. At each stage of the process of buying their first home, the Coalition will help young Australians reach their goal.

Save for Your First Deposit

A Coalition Government will give first home buyers the choice of harnessing their superannuation to get into the property market with our Super Home Buyer Scheme.

A Coalition Government will allow Australians to access up to 40 per cent, with a cap of $50,000, from their superannuation to buy their first home – the scheme will apply to both new and existing homes.

This policy empowers young Australians to enter the property market without needing to rely on parental assistance. Additionally, older women and women fleeing domestic violence will be able to access these funds.

To ensure financial stability in retirement, these withdrawals must be repaid when the home is sold, including a share of any capital gain.

This will allow your super to work for you to purchase your first home and then be returned to your super at a later date – achieving the best of both worlds – home ownership and retirement security.

This Scheme will help young Australians with the cost of living and reduce mortgage stress, by boosting the deposit used to purchase the house and lowering repayments – saving thousands of dollars a year.

And we will review and improve the existing First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme to make it more practical and accessible for participants.

The Coalition established the FHSS scheme, which allows potential first home buyers to make personal voluntary contributions into their superannuation fund to help save for a first home, with concessional contributions taxed at only 15 per cent. Prospective first home buyers can currently contribute up to $15,000 a year, up to a maximum of $50,000.

Access Your First Mortgage

Under the Albanese Labor Government, homebuyers are struggling to secure financing due to overly restrictive regulations that drive up costs, limit competition, and make it harder to obtain mortgages.

The Coalition will reset the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) statement of expectations to encourage APRA to enhance first home buyers’ scope to enter the property market, with a focus on amending their serviceability buffer and risk weightings for borrowers with Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

The Mortgage & Financial Association of Australia have reported 37.5 percent of prospective first home buyers miss out on their first mortgage because of APRA’s 3 per cent mortgage serviceability buffer.

The Coalition will work with APRA to develop a differentiated standard for first-home buyers, which delivers a lower serviceability buffer.

For many Australians, Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is the only way to secure a home loan. It is a vital tool for borrowers without significant savings or access to the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’.

Under APRA’s prudential standards, mortgages backed by LMI are assigned a risk weight of 55 per cent, while loans with parental guarantees are assigned a significantly lower risk weight of 35 per cent.

APRA will be required to develop a differentiated standard for first-home buyers that delivers better value where strong risk protection exists, such as LMI.

Finally, we will work with the financial regulators on updating guidance on the treatment of HELP debt for mortgage applications.

Service Your First Mortgage

To make it easier to service your first mortgage and give first home buyers a genuine leg-up, a Dutton Coalition Government will establish the First Home Buyer Mortgage Deductibility Scheme to provide a tax deduction on interest payments for the first five years of a mortgage on new build homes.

Under the First Home Buyer Mortgage Deductibility Scheme:

First home buyers who purchase a newly built home, including off-the-plan apartments, as their principal place of residence will be eligible.
Buyers can deduct the interest paid on up to $650,000 of their mortgage from their assessable income for the first five years of their mortgage.
There is no cap on the overall mortgage size or home price, but only the interest on the first $650,000 of the loan will qualify for deductions.
The measure will be available to individuals earning up to $175,000 and joint applicants earning up to $250,000 (once eligible, participants will retain access to the deduction even if their income rises).

This policy is designed to make housing more accessible by reducing the cost of borrowing, improving loan serviceability, and helping buyers build equity faster.

As an illustration, a first home buyer with a taxable income of $120,000 with a $650,000 mortgage at 6.1 per cent will receive a benefit of around $12,000 a year.

However, the benefit will depend on individual circumstances, including the size of their mortgage, interest rates, income, other tax deductions and so forth.

By applying only to newly built homes, this policy will boost construction activity, create jobs, and increase housing supply — which is critical at a time when home building has stalled and Labor’s promise to build 1.2 million homes is projected to fall short by at least 400,000 homes.

Expand the Coalition’s Home Guarantee Scheme

To complement our new policies to support first home buyers, a Dutton Government will also build on the success of the Coalition’s Home Guarantee Scheme, as a targeted and cost-effective measure to support home ownership and new housing.

Under this highly successful initiative more than 200,000 Australians have bought a home, with one-in-three first home buyers supported into a home through the Scheme in 2023-24.

A Coalition Government will:

Uncap the number of places in the First Home Guarantee and Regional Home Guarantee Scheme to support first home buyers into a home with a deposit as little as 5 per cent.
Increase the income thresholds for accessing the Home Guarantee Scheme to give more first home buyers across the country the chance to get into a home sooner by lifting the thresholds to $175,000 for individuals or $250,000 for joint applicants.
Make the Regional Home and Family Home Schemes permanent – without this commitment both streams will close in June 2026.
Update the property price caps for the Home Guarantee Scheme to reflect the market and ensure Australians can continue to have choice when purchasing their home.

To participate, borrowers will still have to meet the usual loan and repayment assessments from their financial institutions.

The Coalition’s New Home Guarantee Scheme Property Price Caps
Region	Current property price cap	New property price cap
NSW – capital city/regional centre	$900,000	$1,500,000
NSW – other	$750,000	$800,000
VIC capital city/regional centre	$800,000	$950,000
VIC – other	$650,000	$650,000
QLD – capital city/regional centre	$700,000	$1,000,000
QLD – other	$550,000	$700,000
WA – capital city	$600,000	$850,000
WA – other	$450,000	$600,000
SA – capital city	$600,000	$900,000
SA – other	$450,000	$500,000
TAS – capital city	$600,000	$700,000
TAS – other	$450,000	$550,000
ACT	$750,000	$1,000,000
NT	$600,000	$600,000

Support our building and construction sector

A Dutton Coalition Government will build the workforce we need to tackle Australia’s housing and construction challenges head-on.

We will invest over $500 million to back small and medium businesses and builders to skill the next generation of Australian workers, using targeted and proven mechanisms.

We will provide small and medium businesses with $12,000 to support the wages of eligible new apprentices and trainees taking up training in areas of skills shortage for the first two years of their training. This is around 10 per cent of wage costs.

This will support around 40,000 new apprentices and trainees each year to take up training in critical skills areas.

We will set a target to return the apprentice and trainee pipeline to over 400,000. The Coalition will place particular emphasis on housing and construction trades through this incentive and will ensure all construction and housing trades are eligible through an updated Australian Apprenticeship Priority List.

This employer incentive will work alongside our commitment to deliver the Key Apprenticeship Program which will provide eligible apprentices between $5,000 and $10,000 directly over the life of their apprenticeship with a focus on supporting housing construction.

The Coalition will alsodeliver a new national network of Australian Technical Colleges, offering new pathways for students to fast track them to high-skilled and well-paying jobs in fields like housing and civil construction.

Since Labor took office training numbers have collapsed. Labor promised to deliver “more apprentices and more trainees” yet there are 90,000 fewer apprentices and trainees in training than when Anthony Albanese took office. This has made it harder to build the homes we need and made skill shortages worse.

Amid a housing and rental crisis, Labor has brought record numbers of people into Australia while neglecting the very skills we need to address the shortages we are facing.

Labor bowed to the demands of the militant CFMEU and have not prioritised visas for skilled workers such as bricklayers, painters, roof tilers and stonemasons who could help our local tradies build the extra houses we desperately need.

As a result, Labor has delivered the worst skills shortages in 50 years. In Labor’s first year in office, skills shortages increased by 12.5 per cent. The latest data indicates 33 per cent of all occupations remain in shortage.

The Coalition will review the Skilled Occupation List to ensure that it has the flexibility to assist in addressing the labour force shortages in our regions and in specific sectors, including construction. This will ensure we have the essential skills we need to support our local tradies to build the homes we need.

Cut Red Tape

To address supply constraints, the Coalition announced that we will freeze any further changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) for 10 years.

At a time of high inflation, the Government’s changes to the NCC have added red tape and increased the compliance burden for new housing projects, driving up costs for purchasers.

Stakeholders estimate the Government’s recent changes to the NCC have added up to $60,000 to the price of a new home.

The Coalition’s freeze will provide certainty to the industry and let builders get on with the job of building homes for Australians.

We further commit to working with industry to review the Labor Government’s 2022 changes to the NCC and identify options to further reduce red tape and bring down costs for consumers.

Tackle Union Corruption

The militant CFMEU’s behaviour is driving up the cost of residential and commercial housing in Australia. On coming to office, Labor handed the CFMEU control of Australia’s construction sector by abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

The lawless CFMEU continues to fuel unsustainable rises in construction costs in Australia. Its unlawful industrial action, bullying, intimidation and organised crime have contributed to a 30 per cent increase in building costs.

Urgent action is needed to restore accountability and ensure a fair and competitive building and construction industry. We expect workers to be represented by a union that respects law and order and works in the best interests of its members.

The Coalition will deregister the CFMEU, restore the ABCC and ensure tough penalties for union officials who do the wrong thing.

We will crack down on corruption and organised crime in the construction industry by establishing an Australian Federal Police-led taskforce bringing together Commonwealth law enforcement agencies and state and territory police forces.

We will reinstate the ABCC with increased powers, increase penalties for breaches of the Fair Work Act, and tighten the fit and proper person test for right of entry onto worksites and holding office in a registered organisation.

By addressing unlawful behaviour and promoting compliance, the ABCC will help create a level playing field for all businesses in the construction industry. This will support fair competition and help ensure that projects are completed efficiently and cost-effectively.

Cleaning up the construction industry is a key part of our plan to fix the housing crisis and get our economy back on track.

Social and Affordable Housing

The Coalition recognises the challenge of housing for the vulnerable.

That’s why we established the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator to provide low-cost finance to registered community housing providers to deliver more social and affordable dwellings.

A Coalition Government will continue to support the delivery of the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness which is an agreement between the Australian, state and territory governments.

The Agreement provides around $1.8 billion each year from the Commonwealth to the states and territories, including $400 million for homelessness funding.

The funding gives states and territories flexibility to deliver services that best meet the needs of their communities and to respond to emerging challenges.

Australia has a comprehensive income support system. There are multiple supplementary payments, including Rent Assistance. This payment is to help with the costs of renting in the private rental market or community housing.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance increased over the last three years with Coalition support.

Social security payment rates are indexed on a regular basis, which helps to maintain their value over time. Increases to these payment rates are automatically linked to specific price changes, such as the Consumer Price Index and wages.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance rates are updated on 20 March and 20 September each year in line with the Consumer Price Index.

Maintain Negative Gearing and CGT Arrangements

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said “Any housing policy that doesn’t have changes to negative gearing and capital gains is just a shocker”.

Labor went to the 2019 election proposing to abolish negative gearing for existing homes and double Capital Gains Tax – a $31 billion housing tax. This would have impacted around 1.3 million Australians who have investment properties.

Anthony Albanese praised Labor’s high housing taxes, saying they were “great policy work”.

Again in 2024 Anthony Albanese and Labor undertook modelling via the Treasury to cap or abolish negative gearing – and to increase capital gains tax.

Economic modelling commissioned by the Master Builders Australia prior to the 2019 election found that Labor’s policies would have led to up to 42,000 fewer new dwellings built across Australia.

New independent research indicates that rents in capital cities would jump by $83 a week on top of regular increases if negative gearing is abolished and capital gains tax doubled.

A Labor housing tax will only increase the price of housing and reduce supply, at a time when housing is unaffordable and out of reach for too many Australians.

But these policies are also supported by the Teals and Greens.

Under a Dutton Coalition Government there will be no increase to capital gains tax and no changes to negative gearing.

The Choice

Under Labor the dream of home ownership is out of reach for too many Australians.

We are experiencing a housing crisis.

For generations, owning a home has been a cornerstone of the Australian dream and a symbol of security, stability and pride. Today, obtaining a home has become harder than ever before.

In just over two years Labor brought more than one million migrants to Australia and in that time fewer than 400,000 homes were built.

Labor’s signature housing policies have not added a single additional new home to the market during their entire term of government.

Mr Albanese is too weak – and Labor is too incompetent – to take tough action on union corruption. They have been the beneficiary of over $11.5 million in donations from the CFMEU since 2019.

Under Labor’s housing crisis, the dream of home ownership has slipped away with soaring mortgages and rents.

The Coalition has a clear plan to alleviate pressure on the housing market, boost supply, tackle Australia’s housing crisis and restore the dream of home ownership.

After years of rising rates, unaffordable housing, and inadequate supply under Labor, a Dutton Coalition Government will provide real solutions to make home ownership achievable again.

The Coalition won’t accept a situation where a generation of Australians miss out on the opportunities for home ownership that previous generations enjoyed.

Restoring the dream of home ownership is part of our plan to get Australia back on track.

The Coalition will invest $8.6 billion to restore the dream of home ownership by boosting housing supply, supporting first home buyers, cutting red tape and restoring the rule of law on Australian building sites.