This Part provides members and their resident family assistance to purchase or sell a home while the member is posted within Australia.

There are two forms of assistance provided under this Part:

• HPAS (see Division 1) – A one-off payment to assist with the purchase of a home. This payment is payable once only. To access this payment the home that is purchased must be lived in and located in either the member’s current or next housing benefit location or family benefit location.

• HPSEA (see Divisions 2 and 3) – A reimbursement for costs associated with selling a home and purchasing another home that will be lived in by the member or their resident family in either the members next housing benefit location or family benefit location. There are no limits to the number of times HPSEA can be used. 

A member who purchases their first home under HPAS then enters into the sell-purchase-sell home ownership cycle when they go to sell it. Each time they purchase or sell another home on a posting, they can be reimbursed the reasonable costs involved.

While time limits do apply to the sell-purchase-sell cycle, this does not mean that a home must be sold or purchased following each of the member’s postings. It remains the member’s choice if they sell and buy, however continued eligibility is dependent on a member maintaining the cycle of sell-purchase-sell.

The time limits applied to the sell-purchase-sell cycle will be paused in certain circumstances, such as when the member is posted to an overseas posting location, or to a location where they are required to live in a Service residence or living-in accommodation (see section 7.3.23).