The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) is starting detailed consultations with lenders regarding their potential participation the Federal Government’s new First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, via Property Observer.
The Scheme is scheduled to commence on 1 January 2020.
It will be administered by NHFIC, subject to the passage of legislative amendments, which have been introduced into the Parliament today.
It is known as the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Amendment Bill. Michael Sukkar, the Minister for Housing, presented the bill.
It seeks to establish a First Home Loan Deposit Scheme to assist eligible first home buyers with a minimum 5 per cent deposit (rather than the industry standard of 20 per cent) to purchase a home.
NHFIC is seeking feedback from lenders on implementation of the Scheme via a market sounding consultation process.
This market sounding is the pre-cursor to a procurement process which will be used to establish a panel of lenders to participate in the Scheme.
It builds on initial stakeholder consultations undertaken to date.
All residential mortgage lenders are welcome to participate in the market sounding process.
NHFIC is making a Scheme Features paper available to participants for the purposes of the market sounding process.
Further information on the market sounding process, including how lenders can participate and obtain a copy of the Scheme Features paper, is available via the NHFIC website
Responses to the market sounding are required to be submitted before 5pm AEST on Thursday 3 October 2019.
The introduction of legislation giving effect to the Commonwealth Government’s deposit gap scheme is the first step in easing the pathway to home ownership, according to the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA).
The UDIA’s National Executive Director Connie Kirk has welcomed introduction of the legislation and said the next critical step was getting design features right.
