FEDERAL Housing Minister Michael Sukkar was in Mildura this week to claim success for the government’s controversial HomeBuilder program.
Under the scheme, the government offered owner-occupiers grants of $25,000 to help build a new home or contribute to substantial renovations.
“We’ve seen new home sales skyrocket as a result of HomeBuilder,” Mr Sukkar said. “What we’re finding is, the industry’s been able to meet that extra demand and they’re working hard, they’re at capacity.”
To qualify for the HomeBuilder grant, eligible applicants had to sign a contract to build a home up to the value of $750,000 or complete renovations worth at least $150,000.
Contracts had to be signed by December 31 and construction was to begin within six months in Victoria — or three months in other states.
At its launch last June, the government said it anticipated 27,000 Australian households would use a grant, and budgeted the uncapped program at about $680 million.
A government spokesperson said he did not have final totals for how many people applied for the grant, which closed this week, but “there will be over 100,000 applications”.
The Australian reported this week applications had exceeded 121,000, which would account for more than $2.5 billion in grants if all applications were successful.
People who applied for a grant last year will receive $25,000, while those who applied this year will get $15,000 — provided they meet strict criteria.
About 80 per cent of applications were to help to build a new home, while the remaining 20 per cent were for extensive renovations or rebuilds.
Property experts have warned a side-effect of the scheme is that building prices will increase.
Leading builder Metricon has increased the price of its new builds by $1000, brought on by HomeBuilder placing pressure on the construction industry and creating a shortage of materials and labour.
“We can see the industry growing, and there’s some growing pains in doing that,” Mr Sukkar said.
“But my feedback from the Master Builders Association, the Housing Industry Association, is they’re able to ramp up.”
Mr Sukkar visited a new housing development near Lake Ranfurly on Wednesday with Member for Mallee Anne Webster.
“Business really is booming,” Dr Webster said. “It has a flow-on effect throughout the entire community.”
The latest building approval figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show 247 new houses were signed off in the Mildura local government area over the past eight months.
There was a slight dip in Feburary’s new home approvals with 32, after a peak of 44 in November and 41 in October.
Lockstar Homes owner Paul Lock told Sunraysia Daily earlier this year that this year had “been on par with the busiest year we’ve had since we started operating in 1986”.
Mr Sukkar and Dr Webster said they did not have data on how many applications for HomeBuilder had been received from people in the Mallee.
Public housing short
THE HomeBuilder scheme has been slammed by critics who claimed people who most needed housing missed out.
The public housing sector and the Australian Council of Social Services last year labelled the scheme a wasted opportunity and said the money should have gone towards building social housing instead.
The chief executive of National Shelter, Adrian Pisarski, told media last year “not including social housing in a housing stimulus package is negligent”.
He estimated there was a shortfall of 500,000 homes nationally to meet demand for social housing.
According to research project and planning consultant Dr Duncan Rouch, there were 622 applications for public housing in the Mildura local government area in 2020, an increase of 242 since 2016, and 261 applications in Swan Hill, an increase of 91 since 2016.
