Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing. What has been the immediate response to the government’s announcement of increased assistance for first home buyers?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Dobell for his question. The member for Dobell represents an area that is very fast growing. There are a lot of young families moving from Sydney up to Dobell, buying house and land packages, and I am sure he will see a lot more of them moving to his electorate as a result of this very important measure. This measure, as I described earlier in the week, is a very important measure in very difficult economic circumstances. It is a $1½ billion investment that doubles the first home buyers grant for existing properties and triples it for newly built properties, and it has received very favourable support from a number of sectors. In the finance sector, Craig James, the CommSec Chief Equities Economist, said:

We certainly welcome the government’s move to boost housing construction. Australia’s population is growing at the fastest rate in almost 20 years but construction hasn’t been keeping pace. The incentives for first home buyers to build new homes or buy newly erected homes represents a major and much-needed boost for house construction.

But it is not just the finance sector that has welcomed this move. The housing industry is already reporting an increase in interest, activity and employment in the housing sector. We have been receiving calls from builders in my office telling us that they are going to start laying slabs and building houses as a result of this measure. Dr Ron Silberberg, the managing director of the HIA, said today:

Thanks to the tripling of FHOG for new housing, major builders have told HIA that they will now curtail further job retrenchments … Building product manufacturers will be looking to re-open plant and move from a 4-day to 5-day operating week.

There have been reports from all over the country. Udo Jattke, one of Queensland’s largest builders, is reported in the Cairns Post as saying, ‘It is bloody great news,’ and that, instead of shedding staff, he would be rehiring. Len Blakeney of the Master Builders Association in Newcastle said in the Newcastle Herald that the measure will ‘give the region’s building industry a much-needed shot in the arm’.

The residential construction industry is a very important part of our whole economy and it has a significant multiplier effect. The real estate industry are also reporting increased interest. Colin Lake, the sales manager of the Cornish Group of home builders in Camden, said in the Daily Telegraph:

We’ve had an instant response in just the past two days and the phones have been running hot with younger buyers asking how they can make it work.

First home buyers have been coming into our office which is unusual for us as it’s usually only second and third home buyers that can afford a new home.

My office has had an enormous number of calls and emails about this measure. I want to take the opportunity to reassure members and the Australian public that the Treasurer has written very promptly to the states and territories to make sure that these new benefits are available as quickly as possible. Applicants will have 12 months after settlement or completion of their new home to apply, providing that the contract they signed was signed between 14 October 2008 and 30 June 2009. They will have 12 months after the completion of their home to receive that money.

This measure has been enormously well received by potential homebuyers, members of the finance sector, builders and people who are hoping to move into their own homes. It is a very important measure in very difficult economic times.