HOPE Housing’s 2025 Impact Report shows that the change unlocked through homeownership is measurable, immediate and wide-reaching.
Since November 2022, HOPE has helped 39 essential workers buy 26 homes across Greater Sydney delivering a Social Return on Investment of 14.6%, up from 14.4% last year.
HOPE measures impact using a Social Return on Investment methodology, which assigns a financial value to the social outcomes experienced by homeowners, employers and the community using survey data collected before and after homeownership. In 2025, HOPE also benchmarked outcomes against HILDA, Australia’s long-running study of household, income and labour dynamics, allowing homeowner results to be compared with broader national and Greater Sydney trends.
The strongest changes appear in the first year of homeownership. That is where the shift is most visible, and where the pressure starts to lift.
Homeowners reported a 95% increase in financial peace of mind, a 54% reduction in burnout, a 26% increase in workplace productivity, a 32% improvement in mental health, and a 29% improvement in work-life balance.
Just as importantly, these gains were not short-lived. The 2025 results show that the biggest improvement happens in the first year of homeownership, with outcomes then largely sustained. Benchmarking against HILDA showed homeowners moving from below national comparators at baseline to meeting or exceeding both national and Greater Sydney benchmarks.
The story is not only visible in the metrics. It is also visible in the life stage of the households themselves.
In the last 12 months alone, nine babies were born across eight HOPE households. While this is not a direct like-for-like comparison with Australia’s national birth rate of 10.7 births per 1,000 population in 20241, it is still a striking sign of stability, confidence and the ability to plan for the future.
This is why the need for HOPE extends far beyond the households already supported. Essential workers are the people communities rely on in their most urgent and desperate moments. In NSW, that demand is immense. A Triple Zero call is made around every 22 seconds. In 2024–25, NSW Police handled around 895,000 Triple Zero calls and Fire and Rescue NSW almost 144,000, while NSW Ambulance fields more than 1.2 million Triple Zero calls each year – that is about 1 call for every 6 NSW residents2.
HOPE’s 2025 Impact Report shows the results that can be achieved with a secure, appropriate and affordable home. The whole family feel safer financially, more present at work, more grounded at home and able to plan for the future they have been working so hard to build.
For investors seeking an opportunity in residential property, HOPE combines strong investment returns with measurable social impact. Learn more by downloading the full report on Our Impact page or book a call to speak with our Investment Team.
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024). Births, Australia. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/births-australia/latest-release.
2 NSW Health. (2025). Annual report 2024–25. NSW Health.
