Innovative financing for homeownership: the potential for shared equity initiatives in Australia

• Simon Pinnegar, and others
• Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute

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31 August 2009In the last few years, shared equity arrangements – where the consumer shares the capital cost of purchasing a home with an equity partner in return for a share of any home price appreciation that occurs – have seen significant growth in Australia. Most states and territories now have schemes operating, although a number remain on a relatively modest scale. More substantive engagement has occurred in jurisdictions where ‘government-backed’ but arms-length agencies, such as HomeStart in South Australia and Keystart in Western Australia, remain an integral part of local institutional and mortgage finance frameworks. For these organisations, shared equity provision has signified a key innovation within their product portfolios, providing a response to growing housing affordability constraint and a continued commitment to assist lower and moderate income households into homeownership. Alongside government interest, Australia has also been a market leader in terms of unsubsidised, private sector-led shared equity product development.

Authors: Simon Pinnegar, Hazel Easthope, Bill Randolph, Peter Williams and Judith Yates.