PowerHousing Australia’s CEO Nicholas Proud attended the Budget lockup in Canberra this afternoon. This is the Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ second Budget after the Budget update in October last year. A significant focus of this Budget—$14.8 billion —is the allocation of support to Australians dealing with soaring costs of living.
With a turbulent and uncertain global market, Chalmers’ Budget seeks to help mitigate softening global growth anticipated in the coming years while responsibly considering options to support everyday Australians, particularly those on low incomes or receiving income support payments.

It is projected that the Budget will provide $17.8 billion in savings from the cessation of existing programs and registration of surplus for the first time in 15 years.

The Federal Budget today shed light on the growing challenge of housing a population that is growing at historically elevated net overseas migration levels as the supply of new dwellings is forecast to decline significantly beyond previous estimates.

With Net Overseas Migration forecasts for 2022-23 revised up from May 2022 (180,000),and October (235,000) Budget’s projections to 400,000 today there is a compounding unexpected forecast that can only add more pressure on the Australian housing market. Coupled with a downgrading of the FY2023 and FY2024 dwelling investment there will be less than enough housing coming through.

New measures such as an increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, a $2 billion increase in the NHFIC Bond Aggregator cap to lend to community housing, Build to Rent incentivised to further grow the investment into housing and targeted support for at need groups are welcomed to provide reprieve.

The key element to be delivered in the forward estimates is the 30,000 home Housing Australia Future Fund with $125m in new housing lost every quarter that the program is not underway.

In further detail, the Budget sets about helping around 1.1 million Australians with the rising cost of rent by increasing the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent at a cost of $2.7 billion over five years. How this will work for tenants and percentage of income settings for CHPs will have to be considered in terms of passing the full amount on