The short version
- Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has suggested three ways people could use their super to buy or pay off a home.
- None of them is Coalition policy, and no details have been released on how they would work.
- Nothing has changed for buyers. The only way to use super for a first home deposit is still the First Home Super Saver scheme.
- Economists and the super industry are split. Some say it would help people buy sooner. Others warn it would push prices up.
Andrew Bragg, the opposition’s housing spokesperson (the shadow housing minister), put forward the three ideas on 22 September 2026. He spoke in an interview with ABC News Radio and in a speech to the Financial Services Council, a finance industry group. He had raised similar ideas earlier in September, The Adviser reported.
Super, or superannuation, is the retirement savings your employer pays into for you. You normally can’t touch it until you retire.
A month on, the Coalition (the Liberal and National parties, now in opposition) has not adopted any of his ideas. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has said the idea of using super to help people borrow more “is not our policy”.
For now, the First Home Super Saver scheme is still the only way to use super for a first home deposit. It lets you put extra money into your super, then take out up to $50,000 of those contributions, plus deemed earnings, for a deposit.
The three ideas
Senator Bragg told ABC News Radio the Coalition had looked at several options. His comments point to three, set out below.
Senator Bragg has not said which option he prefers, who could use them, or how they would work with the government’s 5% Deposit Scheme. That scheme lets first home buyers buy with a smaller deposit.
He also wants changes to that scheme. In his speech, he called for “a less reckless” version. He questioned why a couple earning more than $600,000 should get a government guarantee on their home loan, The Adviser reported. Since October 2025, the scheme has had no income limit.
His main concern is retirement. He says retirees are best off owning their home first, and having savings or investments that pay an income second. He told ABC News Radio that renting in retirement should not become “mandatory”.
In his speech, he warned that a growing number of retirees who rent will change “the economic and social character of the nation”.
He said Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed about 32% of the one-off amounts people took out of super in 2023 were used to pay off a mortgage. He said this raised questions about how savings, housing and retirement policy fit together.
The debate comes as deposits take longer to save. The average household now needs about 11 years to save a 20% deposit on a typical home, Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said in July. In 2005, it took eight years. The Productivity Commission is an independent body that advises the government.
The old $50,000 plan has been dropped
At the last two federal elections, the Coalition promised first home buyers could take out up to 40% of their super for a deposit. The limit was $50,000. Mr Taylor said that promise no longer stands.
Senator Bragg said there was a “credible critique” of the old plan. It would mostly have helped people in their mid to late 30s. Younger workers were unlikely to have $50,000 in super to use.
Asked about using super to help people borrow more, Mr Taylor said Australians should have a choice over their own money. He pointed to the Coalition’s support for self-managed super funds, where people run their own super instead of using a large fund. But he said the proposal was not Coalition policy, and that more on housing would come “over the next little while”.
Others in the Coalition were more supportive. Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson called the ideas “a welcome part of the conversation”. Nationals leader Matt Canavan said people should have a choice in how they use their super.
What you can use now
Two federal schemes already help first home buyers with a deposit.
The First Home Super Saver scheme lets you put extra money into your super, on top of what your employer pays. You can later take that extra money out, plus deemed earnings, for a first home deposit. Deemed earnings are an amount the ATO calculates using a set interest rate, not what your fund actually earned. A Coalition government started the scheme.
According to the Australian Taxation Office, up to $15,000 a year counts towards the scheme, and $50,000 in total. If you put money in before tax, only 85% of it counts. One way to do this is salary sacrifice, where you agree with your employer to put part of your pay into super before tax.
The 5% Deposit Scheme lets eligible first home buyers buy with a 5% deposit. Usually, a deposit under 20% means paying lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). This is a fee that protects the bank, not you, if you can’t repay the loan. Under the scheme, you generally don’t pay it.
More than 100,000 first home buyers have used it since 1 October 2025, when it opened to all first home buyers. That is according to government figures released on 1 October 2026.
Would it push prices up?
Misha Schubert, chief executive of the Super Members Council, told AAP the best way to make housing more affordable is to build more homes. The council represents not-for-profit super funds. She warned the idea could push up both prices and rents.
Research on the Coalition’s old policy points the same way. A 2025 study by University of South Australia housing economist Chris Leishman looked at letting first home buyers take super out for a deposit. It estimated this could lift house prices by 7.4% to 10.3%. The Super Members Council paid for the study.
Former Reserve Bank economist Peter Tulip gave Senator Bragg’s idea cautious support. He told AAP it could give buyers more power and curb reckless buying.
A report he co-wrote for the Centre for Independent Studies, a think tank, estimated that:
- about 392,000 households could buy a home earlier
- the share of households that own a home could rise from about 66% to 70%
- a typical buyer who took super out for a deposit and paid it back 10 years later would retire with $53,600 less (in 2022-23 dollars, which allows for rising prices).
The authors said using super to back a loan, rather than taking it out, would avoid that loss, though loan repayments would be higher. The report also warned the extra demand would push prices up unless more homes are built.
What voters think
Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers accused the Coalition and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party of “coming after super”. “They hate super. They always have and they always will,” he told ABC Radio National. Labor says the next federal election will be a “referendum” on superannuation.
A poll of 1,583 eligible voters by research firm DemosAU, reported by AAP, found 60% backed letting people use super to help buy a home. That included 59% of Coalition voters and 55% of Labor voters.
One Nation has put forward a different idea. For three years, workers could take 3% of their pay as cash instead of it going into super. The money would go towards rent or a mortgage. The same poll found only 41% supported it, though most of the rest were unsure. A Compass poll paid for by One Nation, released the same day, put support at 62%.
What this means for you
- Nothing has changed yet. None of the three ideas has rules, a start date or a law behind it.
- Watch for the Coalition’s housing policy. Mr Taylor has promised one but has not said when.
- If you plan to use the 5% Deposit Scheme, keep an eye on what the Coalition says about it. Senator Bragg wants changes but has not said what they would be.
- If you are saving now, you still have two federal options. The First Home Super Saver scheme helps you save for a deposit inside super. The 5% Deposit Scheme lets you buy with a smaller deposit.
