Federal election 2025: Albanese Government to lift housing support to $33m in next Tuesday’s Budget

The Albanese Government will lift its housing support commitment to $33 billion in next Tuesday’s Budget as it seeks to make cost-of-living relief the heart of its election pitch.

With the housing crisis looming large as one of voters’ top concerns ahead of the Federal poll, Labor is pledging to make it easier for first home buyers to get into the market by expanding the income and price caps for its Help to Buy scheme.

The scheme, which aims to target low and middle-income earners trying to get onto the property ladder, was passed into law by parliament in November.

The Government says the assistance program will support 40,000 working Australians to buy a home of their own, with the Commonwealth contributing up to 40 per cent of the purchase price through a shared equity loan.

Under the new rules, income caps will rise from $90,000 to $100,000 for individuals and from $120,000 to $160,000 for joint applicants and single parents.

Property price caps will also be increased and linked with the average house price in each state and territory, not dwelling price, so first home buyers have more choice.

In Perth, this will mean a cap of $850,000, while in the rest of Western Australia, the ceiling will be $600,000.

In the mortgage belts of New South Wales and Victoria, which are expected to be key to returning Labor to power, the upper limits rise to $1,300,000 for Sydney and $800,000 in the rest of the state, while the cap is set at $950,000 in Melbourne and $650,000 outside the city.

According to Government calculations, this will ensure more than 5 million properties will be made available nationwide.

“I’ve got a pretty straight-forward goal here – to make sure that ordinary, working-class Australians can buy a home of their own,” said Housing Minister Clare O’Neil.

Labor has also committed to speeding up housing construction with a targeted investment of $54 million in advanced manufacturing of prefabricated and modular home construction.

Two years ago, Federal and State governments set the goal of delivering 1.2 million new homes over the next five years from mid-2024.

But a report this week by the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) predicted the national target will fall short of 393,000 dwellings in the combined state capitals by 2029, in part due to high construction costs.

On Friday Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science, argued prefabricated and modular homes could help ease pressure on the industry as they can be constructed up to 50 per cent faster.

“We need to build more quality homes quickly - and help make great manufacturing jobs along the way,” he said.

The Coalition has promised to unlock up to 500,000 new homes by investing $5bn to fund essential infrastructure like water, power and sewerage at housing development sites.