SYDNEY, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has proposed a scheme to allow first-homebuyers to dip into retirement savings to purchase property, but experts have expressed split views about the policy's effectiveness at helping young Aussies purchase their first home.
The policy came amid the final days of the ongoing federal election campaign, in which housing affordability has become a center point of leaders' campaigns.
In recent years house prices across the nation have skyrocketed, and the median house price in Sydney reached 1.4 million Australian dollars (about 1 million U.S. dollars) in February, putting the prospect of buying a home for young Australians further out of reach.
A 2021 survey conducted by Australia's national broadcaster, ABC NEWS, showed that 65 percent of young Aussies surveyed did not believe that owning a home was a possibility.
In response, the current government announced a "Super Home Buyer Scheme" that would allow first-home buyers to withdraw up to 40 percent of their Superannuation, or Super, balance up to 50,000 Australian dollars (about 35,000 U.S. dollars), which normally can only be accessed after retirement.
Managing director of the Australian housing research institute, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), Dr. Michael Fotheringham told Xinhua on Wednesday the plan was "extremely dangerous."
"It sets retirement income policy in direct competition with housing policy; 'choose between the house now and a viable retirement'," said Fotheringham.
He said that the policy was also problematic because it would unlikely benefit disadvantaged Australians, who are in most need of housing assistance.
"Lower income households, the ones who actually need the help, don't have lots of Super to draw on... so it is further tilting an uneven playing field."
He said the policy garnered the majority of its support from people and groups who owned property because more access to money would drive demand and increase property prices.
Prof. Peter Swan from the Business School of the University of New South Wales, however, voiced his support for the policy, telling Xinhua on Wednesday that he believed it was a "desirable move."
"I don't believe Super should be compulsory and savers should have the right to draw on their own savings to invest in a house or property," said Swan.
He did however share Fotheringham's view that it would only drive demand, while not solving the underlying problem of a supply shortage in Australia's housing market.
At the other end of the political spectrum, Australia's left leaning Greens Party, put forward a proposal to build 1 million new, affordable homes across the nation, which would be sold at a flat rate of just 300,000 Australian dollars (about 210,000 U.S. dollars). ■
