Finally some good news for first home buyers!
Albo popped up on the socials, grinning through his hipster glasses like your drunk uncle at Christmas lunch, boasting:
“First home buyers, mark your calendars. We’re making it easier for you to get your foot in the door sooner. On October 1, 5% deposits start.”
That’s this Wednesday.
So is this the week Albo helps you get “a foot in the door”?
Well, if you supersize into a 95% home loan, I think you’ll be lucky to jam your pinky toe in a dog flap.
However, the Treasury doesn’t agree with me. They’ve forecast that letting millions of young people in on a 5% deposit will only push up house prices by a teeny-tiny-itty-bitty 0.5 per cent over six years.
Phew!
Though I’d bet my sheepdog Lucky’s left testicle that they’ll be wrong. Because the Treasury’s forecasts are almost always wrong. (Relax Lucky, your balls are safe.)
And that’s the rotten core of this policy. It’s dressed up as a helping hand, but it’s really just a shove into bigger debt. Instead of making homes more affordable, it will push prices higher and encourage first home buyers to borrow more and save less. That’s subprime lending, Australian-style.
So picture it: young buyers sprinting to save while house prices climb faster, while a conga line of politicians, mortgage brokers and real estate agents egging them on – straight into becoming postcode povvos.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, when interest rates rise, many of these postcode povvos will hit the wall with a double dose of rising repayments and negative equity … and it’s taxpayers who will be on the hook to bail them out.
Now, Albo isn’t an economist. He just occasionally plays one on TV around election time. Yet he does know how the numbers work in politics. Two-thirds of voters own a home, most want prices to go up, and plenty of MPs on both sides own more than one property. Albo’s done the maths, and he’s making sure his roof at the Lodge stays secure.
That’s what really stinks. It’s not just a dud policy, it’s insulting. It tells first home buyers they’re being helped, when in reality they’re being pushed further away from owning a home. And if this scheme becomes entrenched, it will lock in that disadvantage for generations.
One day renters will wake up, realise the game is rigged, and evict their legislative landlords.
Mark your calendar.
Tread Your Own Path!