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About Us
Starting out, starting over,
start with HomeStart
Our organisation
HomeStart gets South Australians started in home ownership. Created by the South Australian Government in 1989, we provide home loans that offer solutions to the challenges people face when buying a home of their own. Our key achievements include:
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Helping more than 62,500 South Australian households into home ownership
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Being profitable every year of operation
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Filling the gap for around 86% of our customers who wouldn’t have been able to secure finance from a mainstream lender.
HomeStart holds a unique position as a financial institution which balances commercial and social objectives. We set our own credit, risk and lending policies, and operate according to the same laws and principles of mainstream lenders.
Established as a statutory corporation under the Housing and Urban Development (Administrative Arrangements) Act 1995, HomeStart reports to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. We work with the department to help deliver the ambitions of the 30-year plan for Adelaide.
Our aims
Our reason for being is simple: making home ownership a reality for more people in more ways. Our aim is to build an organisation which gives customers the chance to become successful home owners, and start something great of their own.
Our dedication to solving home ownership issues means that we continually create, review and revise ways to make buying a home achievable for more South Australians.
This means encouraging financial literacy through community engagement, including free home buyers seminars and educational websites, along with offering sponsorship to local community groups.
It means creating home loans that get people started sooner and create a base for sustainable, affordable home ownership. This includes options to pay less upfront, lower deposit requirements, our clever repayment safeguard and help for those on less income.
It means ensuring we provide our customers with on-going care and retaining focus on what they value from us, so that their great start can extend into a great experience.
And it also means investing in our staff to make sure we keep our hard won culture of engagement and achievement, which translates into more productivity and ultimately, more satisfied customers.
Our strategy
The HomeStart Strategic Plan for 2012 – 2015 aims to maximise the number of customers we can assist and in doing so create a sustainable business that:
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Meets current and future customer needs
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Delivers the financial results and risk management outcomes necessary for our stakeholders
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Is relevant for our customers, government and the wider community.
Our key priorities for the coming years are to build an achievement culture, increase the number of people we help, and make HomeStart the place first home buyers start.
Read more about HomeStart’s strategy »
