Planners back super access for housing
Just a day out from the Federal Budget two financial planners have backed calls for people to be able to access their superannuation for a mortgage deposit.
At the same time as the Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison signalled a “comprehensive” Budget approach to housing affordability, Western Australian Certified Financial Planners (CFPs), Julia Matheson and Peter Roan have said that superannuation was the right savings vehicle for a home deposit.
However the pair acknowledged that allowing access to superannuation to fund a deposit would hardly make a dent in the skyrocketing home prices in Sydney and Melbourne arguing that the real answer lied on the supply side.
The pair has provided a policy outline to Parliamentarians but has stressed that they are not talking about allowing people access to already-accumulated super savings or the superannuation guarantee.
Instead they were proposing that a component of super could be released once it had been accumulated via salary sacrifice or other conventional contribution means that was over and above the 9.5 per cent superannuation guarantee.
They said the released money would be accumulated via a separate component of superannuation not dissimilar to un-restricted non-preserved and that all contributions and components could be withdrawn under this one-off release, perhaps tax free.
In a major television interview before tomorrow night’s Budget, the Treasurer described the Government’s approach to housing affordability as being comprehensive, with the Government working with the states and territories.
“It will address everything from the needs of those who don't even have a roof over their head to those who are trying to buy one to put over their head,” he said. “It will even deal with those, who later in life, are looking to change their own housing arrangements. You need a comprehensive plan. You can't solve housing affordability, but you can do things which reduce the pressure.”
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