Using super for housing ‘cynical’, ‘counterproductive’

Proposals to allow young people to use their superannuation to help fund mortgage deposits would be tantamount to trying to put out a fire with fuel, according to University of NSW academic, Professor Nicole Gurran.

Commenting on the ongoing debate around Government policy, Gurran described the policy proposals as being both cynical and counterproductive.

Her comments came after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reiterated his continuing opposition to such a proposal.

“Siphoning off super funds to ‘allow’ first homebuyers to afford spiraling house prices is a cynical and counter-productive proposal," she said. "It would serve only to increase housing demand, and may leave first homebuyers even more exposed in the case of a housing market downturn. This proposal is like trying to put out a fire with fuel."

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"Research over more than a decade has demonstrated the need to rebalance Australia's housing system by scaling up the non-profit affordable housing sector," Gurran said.

She said this work showed that government support for institutional investment in affordable housing should be combined with appropriate levels of funding for public and community housing, to meet the ongoing needs of low and very low-income renters as well as moderate income aspiring homeowners.

Gurran said other policy levers – particularly inclusionary planning requirements to secure affordable housing development opportunities – were a critical part of this mix.

“Affordable home ownership and rental products delivered by a larger nonprofit housing sector and supported through institutional investment and the planning system will inoculate Australia," she said.