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Date Published : Thursday, January 31, 2008
A scheme designed to help potential homeowners save up to buy their first is to be launched later this year, according to plans by the Labor government.
Based on the superannuation funds, the scheme will allow teenagers and youngsters to save money into a high-interest, low-tax bank account which would help potential housebuyers save up for the initial deposit.
Recent figures from the Consumer Price Index have shown an estimated 4.8 per cent rise in house prices over the past year which, coupled with an ever-increasingly gloomy economic climate, has put the dream of buying a first house out of the reach of many young Australians.
Labor's housing minister Tanya Plibersek told the Adelaide Advertiser that the plans are in place to launch the scheme by the end of the current calendar year.
"It certainly is a priority. It is a really sad thing to think that a generation of young Australians has given up on the idea they will ever own their own home.''
Ms Plibersek - Australia's first housing minister - added: "Australia has high levels of home ownership, we want that to continue."
The accounts, to be known as First Home Saver Accounts, will encourage saving and aim to change current attitudes over both saving and levels of debt.
According to government figures, money in savings accounts reached an all-time low in November 2007 as Australians struggle to fight off debt problems.
Australian savings accounts compared and reviewed.
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