Coalition looks to expand super for housing policy to include mortgage offset, Andrew Bragg says

Mar 21, 2024

In an interview about his new portfolio with Guardian Australia, Bragg also dismissed claims the policies would inflate house prices as “rubbish” and said the opposition will consider how it can “coerce” states and councils to increase density.

On Thursday the Senate inquiry into the retirement system chaired by Bragg was extended for 12 months to June 2025, with an expanded remit to consider ways to use super to increase home ownership including establishing “super/mortgage accounts”.

Bragg said given the average deposit in Sydney is $150,000, it’s a “big thing to deny” people – such as a millennial with $90,000 in their super account – access to that capital.

And we know the key determinant for success in retirement is your home ownership status, not your super balance, so … if people have faster access to owning a house, that’s good.

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Bragg said that claims of a price impact were “massively exaggerated” and had been exposed as a “load of rubbish” by economist Cameron Murray, the Centre for Independent Studies and the Grattan Institute.