First published in The Australian

ABORIGINES who buy their homes are enjoying income increases of up to 100 per cent and are ahead in their mortgage repayments, prompting calls for the Rudd Government to expand home ownership schemes.

A new report has called for the expansion of efforts to allow Aborigines in remote areas to buy their own homes after a study found new owners did not allow their extended family members to stay over for extended periods, and avoided overcrowding.

A desire to make improvements to their homes pushed many new indigenous homeowners to seek higher incomes.

The study by researchers Anna Szava and Mark Moran examined about 60 Aboriginal families in regional centres who received low-interest loans from a program administered by Indigenous Business Australia.

The report finds income levels increased in the years after respondents purchased their homes, from an average of $55,000 at the time of application to $85,000, a more than 50 per cent rise over an average period of six years. Some of the new homeowners' incomes had doubled.

Welcoming the findings, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said she was determined to expand housing choice for indigenous Australians.

"This study highlights several key economic benefits of home ownership for indigenous Australians, including increased income, strong employment, improved financial and budgeting skills and maintenance of their property," Ms Macklin said. "There is no doubt that equity in a home leads to a strong stake in your economic future. I want more indigenous working families to have this sense of security and control over their future through home ownership."

Almost all the families had undertaken improvements and extensions, including adding verandas and extra rooms and upgrading kitchens and bathrooms. Three-quarters were ahead in their loan repayments.

John and Naomi Bonson signed up for a mortgage in late 2005, shortly before their first child was born. Through Indigenous Business Australia, they secured a $320,000 mortgage with a low interest rate, beginning at 4.5 per cent and increasing every year by 0.5 percentage points until the interest rate is capped at 0.5 percentage points below the Reserve Bank rate.

Mr Bonson, a youth worker, changed to shift work after the couple took out their loan so he could increase his income through penalty rates.

Ms Bonson, a teacher, said that in purchasing their own home at Bakewell, outside Darwin, the couple felt they had become role models to indigenous Australians.

"It's about respect from the wider community," Ms Bonson said. "And for indigenous people, land is so important. Obviously many of us don't have places that we can call our own, that's our own country. So to be able to purchase a home and to have a piece of land that's your very own, it gives you a sense of belonging and identity."

The report says home ownership on community title land needs to be handled carefully but has "significant potential to shift the dominant paradigm, and reduce intractable problems with maintenance and short housing life cycles".

All respondents to the survey were now living in a nuclear family setting, although half of them had in the past lived in multiple-family households.