Page 942 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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for some households to advance their entry into homeownership by saving to buy the land outright in the future while paying land rent. The land rent scheme may not be the preferred or suitable option for every household, depending upon their preference and circumstances, but it will provide another option and another choice—and, for some people, almost certainly the only option, the only choice, for entry into the housing market.
The government’s policy has been targeted to provide help to those households currently struggling to enter the housing market to repay a debt on both house and land through only requiring funding for construction of their new house. The scheme will provide the greatest benefit to those households with incomes that are less than $75,000 by reducing their entry costs and their mortgage repayments. Under the scheme, households will only need to finance the costs associated with the transfer of the land and construction of the house, rather than the cost of purchasing the land.
The land rent scheme has deliberately been designed to be flexible, to minimise the costs of holding land and to maximise the opportunities for homeownership. There is no deposit required for people with incomes under $75,000 who want to access the land rent scheme. There is no penalty if they decide to return the land to the government or transfer the land to a regular crown lease. The scheme is designed to help homeownership, not to hinder it.
We are pleased to see the number of people who are excited about the scheme—Canberrans who recognise that, for them, land rent represents the only way that they can afford to have a home of their own. In fact, around 340 people have already attended CIT land rent information sessions to date, and another session is scheduled for 21 March. There are currently 40 land rent blocks on hold; four blocks have exchanged but not settled; and there has been one settlement. These numbers indicate that the scheme is not on the brink of collapse, as has been suggested most particularly by the opposition, as it continues its trashing of and opposition-for-opposition’s-sake approach to what is a fantastic scheme.
The global financial crisis that we are experiencing is the problem, not the design of the land rent scheme. There are, however, alternative views to those that have been presented by the knockers, who are led most particularly by Mr Seselja and the Liberal Party, and also a select group of mortgage brokers—surprise, surprise—a particular group in our community which, of course, does not want to see a scheme such as land rent succeed. Why would they?
There are alternative views—views that are provided by people who have spent their professional lives analysing affordability issues and people who are experts within our community. Emeritus Professor Brian Roberts of the University of Canberra has described the land rent scheme as having great merit, enabling lower income groups to enter the housing market in the ACT. A former director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Professor Vivienne Milligan, describes land rent as an innovative scheme—
Mr Hanson: It’s too bad the bank managers don’t agree with them, Jon.
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