Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

So the spending therefore undertaken by first home buyers in terms of their decision to take the threefold increase in the first home owners grant and go out there and spend their money on a new house is demonstrated in the figures which have been released today through the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Therefore we have the number of owner-occupied housing finance commitments increased by 3.5 per cent in January. The value of housing finance commitments increased by 0.7 per cent in January. The value of owner-occupied housing finance increased by 2.3 per cent. The proportion of first home buyers seeking approvals jumped to 26.5 per cent. Owner-occupied commitments for the construction of new homes rose 2.5 per cent in January, following a 10.4 per cent increase in December. I would draw the Leader of the Opposition’s attention to these core facts. He attacks the economic stimulus strategy launched by the government. A core component of that strategy dealt with the direct cash support to first home buyers to encourage them to go out and buy a new home. The data today demonstrates that is what they have been doing. The reason he doth protest so much is that he knows the data undermines his entire argument.

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