More than 3,800 Tasmanians have bought their first home with the help of a federal government scheme that lets eligible buyers get into the market with just a 5% deposit.
Franklin MP Julie Collins said the program was already making a real difference in the state.
“Too many Tasmanians have been locked out of home ownership for too long, but our 5% deposit scheme is changing that,” Collins said.
“Every time a Tasmanian is helped into a home it’s life changing.”
Collins said there was more work to do, but the scheme was already delivering a pathway to home ownership for Tasmanians like Risdon Vale couple Romain and Jessica.
Their rental was being sold and said they didn’t think to look at buying until they heard about the deposit scheme.
“We didn’t think we had enough money to put a house deposit down and this scheme opened a whole lot of doors for us that we didn’t realise,” Jessica said.
“We thought we were going to be looking for another rental, and this meant we could actually start looking for a home.”
Jessica said it had changed their lives.
“We went from being not secure, not knowing where we’d be moving to and not having the security of a home to being able to now plan our future,” she said.
“At the time of our rental being sold, we wouldn’t have been able to afford a home without the 5% deposit scheme.”
“Before now, we had moved four of five times, and we don’t need to worry about that burden anymore.”
Labor said the 5% deposit scheme is part of a broader $45 billion federal housing plan aimed at building more homes, improving conditions for renters and helping more Australians into home ownership.
