A critical part of addressing Western Australia’s housing challenge is delivering diverse housing options in locations where people want and need to live.

UDIA WA has therefore advocated for policies that improve the viability of medium and higher-density housing projects across the state.

While demand for apartments and townhouses continues to grow, bringing projects to market remains financially challenging because of high costs for materials and skilled labour, along with complex approval processes.

That is why UDIA WA has welcomed Keystart’s new Pre-sale Guarantee scheme. Announced as part of the 2026-27 State Budget and now open for applications, the $250 million initiative directly responds to the challenge apartment and townhouse developments face in meeting lender presale requirements.

For many medium and higher-density projects, obtaining finance is one of the biggest obstacles to getting a project off the ground. Developers are often required to achieve substantial presales before lenders will provide funding, creating a circular challenge that can delay or prevent otherwise viable projects from proceeding.

The new scheme provides greater certainty by allowing Keystart to guarantee the purchase, on completion, of up to 50 per cent of unsold homes in eligible apartment or townhouse developments. In regional WA, the guarantee can increase to 60 per cent. Keystart will pay a discounted market value for committed dwellings.

Developers will be expected to actively market those dwellings during construction to find alternative purchasers. If a committed dwelling is on-sold during construction, the Keystart contract will be rescinded, and if it is not on-sold by the nominated date, Keystart will purchase it.

The scheme therefore acts as a safety net, helping projects secure finance without discouraging normal market sales activity. This targeted intervention improves certainty while keeping developers focused on achieving sales throughout construction.

To qualify, projects must include a portion of affordable dwellings valued at or below Keystart’s maximum purchase price for low deposit home loans.

The initiative reflects the practical, targeted solutions required to increase housing choice while responding directly to a financing barrier that can delay or even prevent otherwise viable developments from proceeding. By improving project viability, it can have a meaningful impact on the number of homes delivered to market.

The Keystart Pre-sale Guarantee is an innovative example of support that can bring forward apartment and townhouse developments which may otherwise struggle to proceed.

In doing so, it can create more housing choice and support more compact, connected and sustainable communities.