Coalition’s home deposit plan will raise prices ‘temporarily’, Superannuation Minister Jane Hume admits

Labor and the Liberals are clashing over housing policy as the superannuation minister admits the government’s plan will bump up house prices temporarily.

House prices will temporarily go up in the the short term as a result of the Liberal-National coalition’s proposed housing policy, the superannuation minister concedes.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is campaigning in Brisbane ahead of this Saturday’s federal election, says anyone opposing the plan is doing so because they don’t see superannuation as people’s own money to use as they want. “It’s your money, it’s in your super, you earned it, you saved it,” he said on 4BC radio on Monday. “We want that to be able to help you get in your own home so you don’t have to sit on the sidelines and watch house prices rise and run away from you.”

Mr Morrison used the Liberal Party’s official election campaign launch on Sunday to announce first home buyers will be able to access 40 per cent of their superannuation up to $50,000 to buy a house.

Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume says the super home-buyer scheme will result in a “bump” in housing prices. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE

But Superannuation Minister Jane Hume said she expected there would be an increase in house prices. “I would imagine that there would be a lot of people that bring forward their decision to buy a house so I would imagine in the short term you might see a bump in house prices,” she told ABC Radio National on Monday. “But that doesn’t play out the long-term benefits of more homeownership, fewer people relying on rent … there are so many factors that play into the housing market.”

“We know that interest rates play a big effect, housing supply plays an enormous effect and that’s why it’s important to play all ends, the demand side as well as the supply side and then interest rates on top of that,” she said.

Labor campaign spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said even Liberal stalwarts like John Howard, Peter Costello and Malcolm Turnbull opposed the policy in the past. “You shouldn’t have to choose between housing today and poverty in old age,” she told the Seven Network on Monday. “We know that this will push up housing prices, we know it’ll mean people have less super to retire on.” Labor’s plan to tackle housing affordability would involve a government “help to buy” scheme where the government would provide an equity contribution for 10,000 low-income earners. Campaign spokesman Jason Clare said the difference in Labor’s plan was that it was a targeted measure.

The only winner in the government’s proposed housing plan was the seller because prices would increase, he said on ABC News Breakfast.

Mr Morrison’s policy includes a requirement for home owners to return the initial super amount withdrawn plus an equivalent proportion of the capital gain or loss when they eventually sell the house. But the prime minister dodged questions about what would happen if the housing market crashed and people needed to sell at a loss, losing their super investment simultaneously. Senator Hume said superannuation was about improving the standard of living in retirement and her former Liberal colleagues who criticised the plan wanted to hold young people back. “Why is it always people that own their own house – who actually own pretty big houses – that object to young people who are getting an opportunity to get their first step,” she said. The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees said the coalition’s plan would drive up house prices and undermine the core purpose of the super system. “Using super as a deposit will drive up property prices, leaving Australians with higher debt and depleted retirement savings,” AIST CEO Eva Scheerlinck said. “Superannuation … is not a piggy bank the government can open at its convenience to avoid dealing with the real systemic issues facing first home buyers.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is campaigning in Perth.