EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities
Housing Australia Act 2018
Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 3) Direction 2025
Subsection 12(1) of the Housing Australia Act 2018 (the Act) provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, give the Board of Housing Australia directions about the performance of Housing Australia’s functions. The Board is subject to the requirements of the Act, the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Direction 2018 (the Investment Mandate), the Help to Buy Act 2024 and the Help to Buy Program Directions 2025.
The Act established Housing Australia to improve housing outcomes for Australians. Housing Australia (previously, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation) commenced operation on 30 June 2018. It is a corporate Commonwealth entity in the Treasury portfolio and is governed by an independent board.
Housing Australia improves housing outcomes for Australians through its guarantee, financing and capacity building functions. Housing Australia administers the Home Guarantee Scheme (Scheme) as part of its guarantee function. Housing Australia also operates the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility, the National Housing Accord Facility, the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator and the National Housing Infrastructure Facility as part of its financing function. Housing Australia also provides support for capacity building of eligible registered community housing providers through its capacity building function. Housing Australia also has other functions conferred by legislation, such as Help to Buy functions under the Help to Buy Act 2024.
The Scheme aims to enable first home buyers, single parents or legal guardians with dependants, and other eligible home buyers to access the housing market sooner. The Scheme comprises the First Home Guarantee, the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG), the Family Home Guarantee (FHG) and the New Home Guarantee. However, the New Home Guarantee ceased accepting new applications on 1 July 2022. No new guarantees can be issued under this stream from and including the 2022‑23 financial year.
The purpose of the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 3) Direction 2025 (the Instrument) is to amend the Investment Mandate to extend the expiry date for the FHG and RFHBG guarantee streams to 30 June 2026. Prior to the commencement of the Instrument, the FHG and RFHBG guarantee streams were due to expire on 30 June 2025. The amendments assist more eligible home buyers to access the housing market by allowing Housing Australia to issue additional guarantees under the FHG and RFHBG guarantee streams in the 2025‑26 financial year. Specifically, the amendments allow Housing Australia to issue up to an additional 5,000 guarantees under the FHG for the 2025‑26 financial year, and up to an additional 10,000 guarantees under the RFHBG for the 2025‑26 financial year.
No public consultation was undertaken on the Instrument as the changes are targeted and machinery in nature. Housing Australia was consulted in the development of the Instrument.
The Instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the Legislation Act). As a direction made by a Minister to a person or body, the Instrument is exempt from sunsetting and from disallowance. The sunsetting exemption is pursuant to paragraph 54(2)(b) of the Legislation Act and item 3 of the table in section 11 of the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015 (the Legislation Exemptions Regulation). The disallowance exemption is pursuant to section 42 of the Act and item 2 of the table in section 9 of the Legislation Exemptions Regulation. Accordingly, no statement of compatibility with human rights is required under subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The Instrument is subject to the automatic repeal process under section 48A of the Legislation Act. This section provides that where a legislative instrument only repeals or amends another instrument, without making any application, saving or transitional provisions relating to the amendment or repeal, that instrument is automatically repealed. By virtue of subparagraph 48A(2)(a)(i), the Instrument is automatically repealed on the day after the commencement of the Instrument which results in the amendment of the Investment Mandate.
The Instrument commenced on the day after registration.
Details of the Instrument are set out in Attachment A.
The Office of Impact Analysis has been (OIA) has been consulted (OIA ref: OIA25‑09108) and agreed that an Impact Analysis is not required.
The measure is estimated to have a low impact on compliance costs.
ATTACHMENT A
Details of the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 3) Direction 2025
Section 1 – Name
This section provides that the name of the instrument is the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (2025 Measures No. 3) Direction 2025 (the Instrument).
Section 2 – Commencement
This section provides that the Instrument commenced on the day after registration.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the Instrument is made under the Housing Australia Act 2018 (the Act).
Section 4 – Schedules
This section provides that each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments
Legislative references in this attachment are to the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Direction 2018 (the Investment Mandate) unless otherwise stated.
Extending the Family Home Guarantee and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee streams to support more Australians access to the housing market
Prior to the commencement of the Instrument, the Family Home Guarantee (FHG) and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) streams were due to expire on 30 June 2025 with Housing Australia not allowed to issue new guarantees under these streams for financial years after the 2024‑25 financial year.
5,000 Family Home Guarantees for the 2025‑26 financial year
Item 3 of the Instrument amends subsection 29IB(1) to allow Housing Australia to issue up to 5,000 FHG guarantees for the 2025‑26 financial year (in addition to the 2022-23, 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years, and in addition to guarantees under other streams). Prior to the commencement of the Instrument, Housing Australia was only permitted to issue up to 5,000 FHG guarantees for each of the 2022-23, 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years, in addition to guarantees under other streams. This amendment extends the ability to issue FHG guarantees and therefore supports additional eligible single parents or legal guardians with dependent children on the pathway to home ownership.
10,000 Regional First Home Buyer Guarantees for the 2025‑26 financial year
Item 5 of the Instrument amends subsection 29IBA(2) to allow Housing Australia to issue up to 10,000 RFHBG guarantees for the 2025‑26 financial year (in addition to the 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years, and in addition to guarantees under other streams). Prior to the commencement of the Instrument, Housing Australia was only permitted to issue up to 10,000 RFHBG guarantees for each of the 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years, in addition to guarantees under other streams. This amendment allows Housing Australia to assist more eligible home buyers enter the housing market sooner by increasing the number of guarantees that can be issued under the RFHBG guarantee stream.
Item 6 of the Instrument amends subsection 29IBA(4) to allow for the rollover of any guarantees under the RFHBG stream for the 2024‑25 financial year that were not issued in that financial year to be able to be issued in the 2025‑26 financial year. These guarantees generally include guarantees that at the end of the financial year have lapsed or expired. Prior to the commencement of the Instrument, the subsection only allowed for the rollover of any guarantees under the RFHBG stream for each of the 2022-23 and 2023‑24 financial years that were not issued in that financial year to be able to be issued in the next financial year. As an example, if in the 2024‑25 financial year only 9,000 guarantees are issued under the RFHBG stream, and no guarantees were rolled over into the 2024‑25 financial year from the previous financial year, 1,000 guarantees can be added to the 10,000 guarantees cap for the 2025‑26 financial year.
However, both before and after commencement, guarantees can only be rolled over in this way if:
• Housing Australia notifies the Minister of the number of the guarantees for that financial year that were not issued; and
• the Minister determines, by written notice given to Housing Australia, the number of those guarantees that may be issued for the next financial year.
Item 7 of the Instrument repeals and substitutes the note to subsection 29IBA(4). As above, the Minister has the power to determine, in writing, the rollover of any RFHBG guarantees that were not issued at the end of the financial year. The new note clarifies that a determination may be made for guarantees that could have been issued but were not issued for each of the 2022‑23, 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years. The note also clarifies that a rollover cannot occur in respect of guarantees that were not issued for the 2025‑26 financial year under the RFHBG as the RFHBG concludes after that financial year.
Other minor amendments
Item 1 of the Instrument omits and substitutes parts of section 28ZF, the simplified outline of Part 5A, making editorial amendments to those parts. The amendments make clear the additional guarantees that Housing Australia can issue under the FHG and RFHBG guarantee streams for the 2025‑26 financial year.
Item 2 of the Instrument makes minor editorial amendments to the heading of subsection 29IB(1) to refer to the 2025‑26 financial year instead of the 2024‑25 financial year. The amendments make clear the FHG guarantees are available for the 2025‑26 financial year (in addition to the 2022-23, 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years).
Similarly, item 4 of the Instrument makes a minor editorial amendment to the heading of subsection 29IBA(2) to refer to the 2025‑26 financial year instead of the 2024‑25 financial year. The amendments make clear the RFHBG guarantees are available for the 2025‑26 financial year (in addition to the 2023‑24 and 2024‑25 financial years).