If Sydney's religion is real estate, then surely asking vendors to give away some of the proceeds of their house sale is something close to heresy.
But that's what The Big Issue chief executive Steven Persson is hoping people will do in a new initiative he hopes could raise $1.8 billion to build affordable housing for low income earners.
Homes for Homes is an initiative that asks people who sell a house to donate 0.1 per cent of the sale price to a fund that will help build social and affordable housing.
That means someone who sells their house for $900,000 would contribute a tax-deductible $900 to the fund.
It's early days and not clear how the scheme will be received in a market like Sydney, where vendors expect big returns and tend to need every cent to roll into their next purchase.
But Mr Persson is optimistic, saying the scheme has support from major property developers Grocon and Capital Estate Developments, which are donating from sales of housing developments.
He said individual vendors are starting to sign up and expects more to show their generosity.
"I guess time will tell. The developer community is known to enjoy profits and they support it," he said.
Dealing with the national housing shortage that leaves more than 100,000 people homeless each night in Australia is too big a challenge for governments alone, Mr Persson said.
"We are trying to democratise the issue of affordable housing."
Sales manager at Laing and Simmons Potts Point real estate agency, Nuri Shik, said he thought the concept was a good idea but warned it would not appeal to everyone.
"Each vendor has different motivations and some are very tight and some are very generous," Mr Shik said.
Donating would likely not appeal to people selling lower-value properties or wanting to pass proceeds on to their children, he said.
But high-value property vendors would likely be supportive, Mr Shik said, and it could even be a selling point.
"It shows the potential buyers that the vendors are nice people," he said.
Homes for Homes was pioneered by a US housing developer and now being rolled out in Australia by The Big Issue, the non-profit publisher of the street magazine of the same name, with some heavyweight corporate backing.
Telstra CEO Andy Penn, Goldman Sachs senior chairman Terry Campbell and AMP chairman Simon McKeon are in the scheme's advisory group while major banks are also supporters.
