Big Changes to DHOAS in 2023 | DHOAS Eligibility Criteria Expanding

Video Transcript

Robbie: G’day, legends. It’s Robbie and Luke from Axon Property Group. Hope you’re having a fantastic day. There’s a reason why we’ve got something in our hot little hands. There is literally something hot off the press.

Guess what? The government has just announced some very, very long-awaited and amazing news as far as DHOAS goes. So just give me 30 seconds of your time. Luke and I are going to go through some things right now.

It’s a $46.2 million investment which is going to help the Defence community buy your own home so much quicker. They understand the pressures as far as cost of living goes, as far as home ownership goes. You know, the great Australian dream’s getting harder and harder.

The Minister also acknowledges that they’re struggling with the cost of housing and that obviously the Defence community are not immune to that. This is why they’ve expanded DHOAS.

Please listen to Luke right now. He’s going to go through the tech data.

Luke: Thanks for summing that up for us, RT, and giving us a snapshot of where we currently stand in the market and what the government is doing now.

I just want to take you through some of the changes. Bottom line up front, hold your horses. This is not everybody that’s ever served in Defence. You need to have served on or after the 1st of July 2008, meaning if you got in before then and got out before then, you’re not accessible to this scheme, unfortunately.

It is a step in the right direction, but it hasn’t opened it up to everyone. But we are making good headway.

Robbie: So Luke, a young soldier, sailor, airman had to serve four years before they could get access to DHOAS. What’s it now, mate?

Luke: This is one of the good changes that’s taking place. They’ve halved that minimum service requirement down from four years, down to two. So you now only have to have served a minimum of two years’ service to be able to access Tier 1 of the DHOAS scheme.

Robbie: What if I was just a Reservist? What changes have come into effect there?

Luke: So again, they’ve halved the time period for that scheme as well, so from eight years all the way down to four years’ effective service to be able to access that Tier 1.

Robbie: So just bringing it forward – people are going to get access to this much sooner now.

Luke: Absolutely. To open up that scope of support that service members and their families are able to get access to.

Robbie: So good. You and I have coached a heap of clients that even this year, like “I’ve only done three years, I’ve got to wait another year until I get my DHOAS certificate.” But yeah, you’re in the game straight away.

Ladies and gents, this is key information. Mate, I’m loving this. Keep going, please.

Luke: It’s fantastic. One of the other big changes that’s taken effect is when DHOAS was brought into effect way back in 2008, you had to have accessed your entitlement no longer than two years after you left.

So if you severed your service, you had only two years to be able to access that. Like a ticking clock. Two years. Get it done. Feeling rushed.

I believe it went to five.

So they reviewed that and said, “Hey, we’re missing the trick here. People have still served their nation and they deserve to be supported over a longer period of time.”

One of the great things that they’ve brought in with this new announcement is that the time limit now ceases to exist. So you don’t have to have used your entitlement within that five-year period.

Robbie: So good. It’s fantastic. Maybe I can still get access to it.

Luke: What I want to do now, just quickly, is give an understanding of where we are. A snapshot right now of the subsidies that currently exist in play. There will be updates to these as we move forward, obviously with effect from the 1st of January next year.

Robbie: If I can just caveat quickly, we looked at some numbers before. In July this year, Tier 1 was about $400 a month. Now Tier 1 is about $600 a month. As interest rates go up, the subsidy goes up. So this is a moving target.

We’re speaking to you basically on the first day of December 2022.

Luke: Tier 1 is a maximum loan of $402,000. In your Skyrocket, you’ll see $445 a month, which equates to over $5,300 a year.

Tier 2 is a $603,000 maximum loan with a $667 a month subsidy, which equates to over $8,000 a year.

And then Tier 3, the threshold that we’ve reached, is a loan of $804,000, which is an $890 a month subsidy, which equates to over $10,700 a year back in your pocket.

View current DHOAS Tiers and Rates

Robbie: Now here’s the thing, 12 months ago, when interest rates were super low, even if you were on Tier 3, it was only like $5,000 a year.

I’m like, you know what, the tail doesn’t wag the dog. You’re not going to go and buy your own home in a poor location that’s not going down in value just to access five grand.

Now you can access ten grand. I guess it’s going to open up the thought patterns a little bit more and expand some of the opportunities for why Axon exists – to help the Defence community secure your financial future using property.

This is an amazing initiative, mate. I’m really stoked about this.

Luke: One of the things I’m really excited about, and I just want to reiterate, is having Axon and having your Axons operating right for you – having that team behind you.

You sitting there watching this right now, you can’t possibly put in the hours per day that our team does, living and breathing this to make sure we’re getting you the most contemporary information, hot off the press, so you can make informed decisions.

Love it.

Robbie: Final piece from me. One of the key things about the old DHOAS was that if you served less than 20 years in your career, you reverted back to Tier 1 straight away.

What’s not included in these papers is clarity on that. So just stay tuned. As soon as we know what’s going on with the further bits and pieces of this policy, we’ll let you know straight away.

But the bottom line is – more people are going to be able to buy their own home sooner.