OVERVIEW
NRAS is a government initiative designed to assist low to middle income
earners secure affordable accommodation. There are currently 1.5 million
households in Australia who qualify for NRAS.
The concept behind NRAS is to have service people* stay in one area for long
periods of time rather than being priced out of the market. It also hopes to
enable tenants to save for deposits for their own home. Last but certainly not
least it aims to provide affordable housing for retirees. (*Service people are:
Cleaners, Retail workers, Hospitality workers and essential industry workers.
I.E. Police, Nurses, Teachers etc)
The government has committed to NRAS for a 10 year period with $1 billion
allocated over the next 4 years.
As an investor purchasing an NRAS approved property the benefits are
significant and the scheme works as follows;
The Landlord must offer the property for lease at 20% under market rental
value.
• Market value must be determined by a registered valuer
• Landlord/manager must initiate a valuation to occur annually
• Landlord must declare number of day’s the property is tenanted i.e
Lease will show this
• Landlord / manager must screen tenants to ensure they qualify for
NRAS housing
In return the Govt will contribute $9,140 worth of tax-free incentives made up
of;
• 75% is to be tax offset by Federal Government
• 25% is payment from the state Govt as a cash rebate
TENANTS
To qualify for NRAS housing, tenants must;
• Must be medium to low-income earners
• People who service the areas
• People over 55’s
• Must not own property
• Must not own more than $85k in liquid assets
NRAS allows for an increase of 25% in income for a period of two years
before they become ineligible for NRAS. Please see below chart.
