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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-07 Daily Xml
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HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Mr KENYON (Newland) (14:17): Can the Minister for Housing inform the house whether South Australians have been using the Property Locator to access affordable housing?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (14:17): I thank the honourable member for his question and I acknowledge that the member for Newland has paid special interest to the question of affordable housing, and our agency will be assisting him with briefings about that matter. In August last year I had the pleasure of launching the Property Locator website—a joint initiative of HomeStart Finance and the Affordable Housing Innovations Unit of Housing SA. Property Locator is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry to interrupt the minister. I point out to members on both sides that a minister is on his feet. If members have something to say to each other, take it outside. The Minister for Housing.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The Property Locator is a fantastic example of public sector innovation. It is an incredibly simple idea but a very powerful one. It links eligible low to moderate income earners with affordable housing. It is one of the great paradoxes in our system that there is affordable housing out there but it is not always low to moderate income earners who can get access to it. So, this provides a list of affordable homes from private developers and builders, as well as from Housing SA properties, currently on the market at fixed prices for a limited period. Low to moderate income earners who meet set eligibility criteria can apply to buy one of the affordable homes before it becomes available on the general market, so it is giving first crack at these homes to low to moderate income earners.

In its eight months of operation it has shown itself to be a great success, exceeding initial expectations. About 3,000 people have visited the Property Locator website. It has 1,050 registered users who receive an email alert when a new property is listed. Real estate agents selling the properties tell us they receive inquiries within hours of a home being listed for sale. Housing staff are receiving calls within 10 to 15 minutes of the property going live. Through the website, 143 homes have been sold with a total value of $26.4 million, and I am pleased to note that more than a quarter of those are secured with home finance from HomeStart.

This website—together with HomeStart's initiatives such as Equity Start, where we provide the $50,000 no-interest component of a home loan to Housing SA tenants, as well as the Breakthrough Loan which is a shared equity product, which I note was quickly followed by the private sector with a similar initiative—provides significant home ownership opportunities for many people who would usually be shut out of the market.

We have to realise that the banks are not in the business of lending to people who just want a home loan. They want the whole product: they want people with credit cards; they want them with a whole lot of things that gear up a lot of extra fees. Somebody who is looking for a modest loan is not the ideal target for the financial institutions. That is why HomeStart Finance is such a critical player in what is a failure of the housing finance market. The Property Locator also provides an excellent way for developers to provide the 15 per cent affordable housing component, which links with another of our important housing policies.

Developers including Fairmont, Hickinbotham and Cobuilt have listed affordable properties on the website showcasing their innovative designs which have been built in a range of locations. It is just one more example—a small but important example—of how we are attempting to grapple with the housing affordability challenge.

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