How the 2022-23 Federal Budget May Benefit You

The Federal Government has released its budget for 2022-23, and there are a number of measures that will benefit homeowners. This is great news for Australians looking to buy or upgrade their homes in the near future and for everyday Australians who have been feeling the impacts of an increasing cost of living. In this article, we will take a closer look at a few budget measures that may help you!

 Expansion of the Home Guarantee Schemes

 With the Government’s previous schemes set to end in June 2022, many were expecting an expansion of the Federal measures to support Australians struggling to break into homeownership. The Federal Government not only announced that the schemes would continue for another three years, but they have increased the number of places available across the schemes. The key features of the expansion of the schemes include: (*insert link to long-form article*)

• Expanding the First Home Guarantee to 35,000 places, up from 10,000. This allows eligible Australians looking to buy or construct their first home with just a 5% deposit, with the Government guaranteeing up to 15% of the loan a borrower needs to secure their property.
• 5000 new places under the Family Home Guarantee Scheme, which allows single parents to apply for a loan with a deposit of just 2%.
• A new scheme called the Regional Home Guarantee for regional Australians who are first home buyers or have not had a property in the last five years. 10,000 places will be made available per year from October 1.

Cost of living tax break:

Low to middle-income earners will receive an extra $420 back on their tax returns this year, which is a move by the Federal Government to help households with the increased cost of living.

This tax offset applies to individuals who earn less than $126,000 a year and will be available from July 1. This will also be combined with the low and middle-income tax offset, a measure that entitles eligible Australians to a further $1080 offset at tax time.

So, for a household with a single income, this means potentially having a tax offset of up to $1500, or a $3000 offset to dual-income households.

Paid Parental Leave:

The Federal Government has announced changes to its Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme.

Previously, parents were entitled to two separate payments: two weeks of “Dad and Partner Pay” plus 18 weeks of “Parental Leave Pay”. Parents will now be able to receive 20 weeks of paid parental leave, up from 18 weeks, and the two payments will now be combined, which means parents can choose to divide their leave between them in whatever way suits them best.

Single parents are also benefiting from the changes to the PPL scheme, as they will be able to access the full 20 weeks of paid leave.

Petrol excise:

In another move to help ease the cost of living, the Morrison Government has announced they will slash the fuel excise in half. The fuel excise currently adds 44.2 cents to every litre of petrol. This will now be slashed to 22.1 cents per litre for six months. To ensure these savings are passed on to households, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will monitor retail prices for petrol and diesel.

Mr Frydenberg stressed that the measure, which may take several weeks to be passed on to consumers at the pump, will save the average family hundreds of dollars:

“Whether you’re dropping the kids at school, driving to and from work or visiting family and friends, it will cost less.” Mr Frydenberg said.

Have you got a question about home loans? Ask away!

For those looking to enter the property market for the first time, the changes to the Home Guarantee scheme can be complicated. If you have any questions about how the scheme works or you want someone with you for the process of applying, reach out to us today!