Codie Wem, a 29-year-old from Sydney, has realized her dream of home ownership by purchasing a one-bedroom apartment in Rosebery for $690,000, aided by the Albanese Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme.
This initiative, designed to support first-home buyers, allowed Wem to secure her new home with just a 5% deposit and exempted her from state stamp duty.
Located conveniently near her workplace at the University of New South Wales, Wem’s new apartment is part of a broader trend where the Albanese Government has assisted over 117,000 Australians in achieving home ownership through various programs under the Home Guarantee Scheme.
These include the First Home Guarantee, the Family Home Guarantee, and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which allow joint applications from friends and family members as well as non-first home buyers who haven’t owned property in Australia in the last decade.
Importance Of Home Ownership For Australians
Recently, Wem welcomed Federal Member for Sydney Tanya Plibersek, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Minister for Housing Claire O’Neil to her new home.
Plibersek emphasized the importance of making home ownership accessible for ordinary Australians.
“An ordinary person with an ordinary job should be able to afford an ordinary home of their own, whether to rent or to buy. We are working on a whole range of housing policies, from homelessness to long-term rental, and in this case, home ownership,
which is such an important foundation for society,” Plibersek said in a statement. “Codie, we’re so pleased that you’ve been able to achieve this dream of yours because it really sets you up so well for the future. And I’m so glad you’ve chosen
the federal electorate of Sydney to live in.”
Wem shared how the Home Guarantee Scheme made her purchase possible: “I honestly don’t think I would have been able to save the twenty percent deposit unless I moved back home and didn’t pay rent.”
She meticulously tracked property values and expenses using spreadsheets to ensure she made a sound investment. “I did some research about how I could buy a property on my own and the Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme came up. I was able to work with my mortgage broker and got a good place where I could utilise the scheme.”
“Initially I thought about having a two-bedroom place but realised that I had to buy a one bedroom apartment. I’m an avid spreadsheeter and whenever I looked at a property I recorded what the advertised price was, what it went for, what the strata
fees were, and any other positives or negatives about the apartment and the block. It helped me to work out what was value for money.”
“Some places go wildly above market and wildly below market value and the spreadsheet really helped me to work out what I really valued in a property. I was also realistic about what I could purchase,” Wem revealed.
PM Calls On Senate To Pass Housing Legislation
Prime Minister Albanese highlighted the significance of such schemes in helping Australians transition from renting to owning their homes. He called for the Senate to pass additional legislation aimed at expanding access to home ownership through shared equity schemes.
“So many Australians, of course, have the dream of home ownership. We want that dream to become a reality, which is why we want the Senate today to pass our Help to Buy legislation,” the Prime Minister said.
“The fact of the 5 percent deposit made it possible for Codie to make that leap from renting into home ownership and to have that security of knowing that the roof over her head is something that she owns. But we want more Australians to have access to homeownership, which is why the shared equity scheme, through the Help to Buy legislation that’s before the Senate today, that’s been held up now for over 200 days, needs to be passed today,” Prime Minister Albanese said.
“The key to fixing housing issues in this country is housing supply. So what we have is a three-pronged approach. Home ownership through programs like this one and the Help to Buy Scheme. More private rentals through our Build to Rent Scheme has been blocked also by the Coalition of the Greens, the Liberal Party, and the National Party in the Senate.”
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