FHB patsies raid $5m in super ahead of property bust

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By Leith van Onselen

Desperate to keep the East Coast property bubble going, the Turnbull Government last year passed legislation to allow first-home buyers (FHBs) to use up to $30,000 of voluntary super contributions for a housing deposit. The scheme was announced as part of a ‘housing affordability’ package announced in the 2017 Federal Budget.

However, the re-gigged First Home Savers Account is rather weak. It was only projected to cost the Budget $250 million over the forward estimates:

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.