Invest
Family Home Guarantee under fire for narrow size and price caps
Questions surrounding the real value of the government’s new Family Home Guarantee scheme have surfaced, with data pointing to several issues with the scheme, including its apparent narrowness in terms of both size and pricing caps.
Family Home Guarantee under fire for narrow size and price caps
Questions surrounding the real value of the government’s new Family Home Guarantee scheme have surfaced, with data pointing to several issues with the scheme, including its apparent narrowness in terms of both size and pricing caps.
The Family Home Guarantee was introduced in this year’s federal budget to make housing a more affordable investment for single parents. But the extent of that help has now been called into question, with new figures from Treasury suggesting as many as 124,000 single parent families would qualify for the scheme.
The catch is, the government has only budgeted for 10,000 over four years.
On top of that, the scheme caps the value of an eligible home – at $700,000 in Sydney, $600,000 in Melbourne, $475,000 in Brisbane, $400,000 in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart – while limiting the annual income of would-be applicants to below $125,000. This suggests that applicants with a maximum income profile would be able to borrow around $500,000 at current interest rates, which leaves few options to purchase appropriate family-friendly homes.
Speaking at Senate estimates last week, Minister for Financial Services Jane Hume was questioned about these apparent inconsistencies, with Labor senator Jenny McAllister suggesting that the government either purposefully tried to restrict the number of applications or made price cap decisions with no research applied.
Standing up for the government, Ms Hume said: “This is a brand-new scheme, Senator McAllister, and getting the calibration, that is not an easy task. These are the numbers Treasury has suggested to us.”
Ms Hume did, however, concede that “if it doesn’t work”, “it will be adjusted accordingly”.
The Minister also faced questions about how the government’s new schemes, including Family Home Guarantee, are expected to fix the affordability crisis, to which she responded: “I think that housing affordability is a very complex area”.
“What we have tried to do here as a government is give more Australians an opportunity to get into the home ownership business… and move out of rental accommodation or social housing,” Ms Hume said.
Dissecting the federal budget last month, Dr Andrew Wilson, chief economist at Archistar, expressed his scepticism of a majority of the new home-related schemes, referring to them as “narrowly targeted”.
“They are unlikely to significantly stem an ongoing decline in activity from this group now suffocating from booming home prices and surging investors, with total activity over the next year set to fall by at least 20 per cent – even with a full uptake of the schemes announced,” Dr Wilson said at the time.
Taking aim at the Family Home Guarantee scheme, Dr Wilson questioned how far the eligible single parents would have to venture for a home, revealing that the current median asking price for a two-bedroom unit in Sydney is $615,000, with a three-bedroom at $820,000. In Melbourne the two-bedroom unit median is $520,000, with three-bedroom unit median asking prices at $585,000. For Brisbane the two-bedroom unit median is $400,000, with three-bedroom unit median asking prices at $560,000.
“By comparison, the median asking price for a Sydney house is currently $1,297,077; with Melbourne at $869,490; and Brisbane, $568,992, and all clearly still rising strongly,” Dr Wilson said.
RELATED ARTICLES
About the author
About the author
Property
Australia’s mortgage knife‑fight: investors, first‑home buyers and the new rules of lender competition
The mortgage market is staying hot even as rate relief remains elusive, with investors and first‑home buyers chasing scarce stock and lenders fighting for share on price, speed and digital experienceRead more
Property
Breaking Australia’s three‑property ceiling: the finance‑first playbook for scalable portfolios
Most Australian investors don’t stall at three properties because they run out of ambition — they run out of borrowing capacity. The ceiling is a finance constraint disguised as an asset problem. The ...Read more
Property
Gen Z's secret weapon: Why their homebuying spree could flip Australia's housing market
A surprising share of younger Australians are preparing to buy despite affordability headwinds. One in three Gen Z Australians intend to purchase within a few years and 32 per cent say escaping rent ...Read more
Property
Tasmania’s pet-positive pivot: What landlords, BTR operators and insurers need to do now
Tasmania will soon require landlords to allow pets unless they can prove a valid reason to refuse. This is more than a tenancy tweak; it is a structural signal that the balance of power in rental ...Read more
Property
NSW underquoting crackdown: the compliance reset creating both cost and competitive edge
NSW is moving to sharply increase penalties for misleading price guides, including fines linked to agent commissions and maximum penalties up to $110,000. Behind the headlines sits a more ...Read more
Property
ANZ’s mortgage growth, profit slump: why volume without margin won’t pay the dividends
ANZ lifted home-lending volumes, yet profits fell under the weight of regulatory and restructuring costs—an object lesson in the futility of growth that doesn’t convert to margin and productivityRead more
Property
Rate pause, busy summer: where smart capital wins in Australia’s property market
With the Reserve Bank holding rates steady, the summer selling season arrives with rare predictability. Liquidity will lift, serviceability stops getting worse, and sentiment stabilises. The ...Read more
Property
The 2026 Suburb Thesis: A case study in turning trend lists into investable strategy
A new crop of ‘suburbs to watch’ is hitting headlines, but translating shortlist hype into bottom-line results requires more than a map and a mood. This case study shows how a disciplined, data-led ...Read more
Property
Australia’s mortgage knife‑fight: investors, first‑home buyers and the new rules of lender competition
The mortgage market is staying hot even as rate relief remains elusive, with investors and first‑home buyers chasing scarce stock and lenders fighting for share on price, speed and digital experienceRead more
Property
Breaking Australia’s three‑property ceiling: the finance‑first playbook for scalable portfolios
Most Australian investors don’t stall at three properties because they run out of ambition — they run out of borrowing capacity. The ceiling is a finance constraint disguised as an asset problem. The ...Read more
Property
Gen Z's secret weapon: Why their homebuying spree could flip Australia's housing market
A surprising share of younger Australians are preparing to buy despite affordability headwinds. One in three Gen Z Australians intend to purchase within a few years and 32 per cent say escaping rent ...Read more
Property
Tasmania’s pet-positive pivot: What landlords, BTR operators and insurers need to do now
Tasmania will soon require landlords to allow pets unless they can prove a valid reason to refuse. This is more than a tenancy tweak; it is a structural signal that the balance of power in rental ...Read more
Property
NSW underquoting crackdown: the compliance reset creating both cost and competitive edge
NSW is moving to sharply increase penalties for misleading price guides, including fines linked to agent commissions and maximum penalties up to $110,000. Behind the headlines sits a more ...Read more
Property
ANZ’s mortgage growth, profit slump: why volume without margin won’t pay the dividends
ANZ lifted home-lending volumes, yet profits fell under the weight of regulatory and restructuring costs—an object lesson in the futility of growth that doesn’t convert to margin and productivityRead more
Property
Rate pause, busy summer: where smart capital wins in Australia’s property market
With the Reserve Bank holding rates steady, the summer selling season arrives with rare predictability. Liquidity will lift, serviceability stops getting worse, and sentiment stabilises. The ...Read more
Property
The 2026 Suburb Thesis: A case study in turning trend lists into investable strategy
A new crop of ‘suburbs to watch’ is hitting headlines, but translating shortlist hype into bottom-line results requires more than a map and a mood. This case study shows how a disciplined, data-led ...Read more
