Blogs

Victoria appears to be the surprise winner from the nation’s $25,000 HomeBuilder grants scheme.

Despite Melbourne’s ongoing stage-four lockdown, Victorians accounted for 40 per cent of the nation’s 6335 applications to September 11.

The figures obtained by opposition housing spokesman Jason Clare also show just 123 applications have received a payment nationwide, less than 0.3 per cent.

Even with Victoria’s surprise success, Mr Clare said the figures showed the scheme was falling well short of the level needed to reach the 27,000 applications the federal government projected when it announced it on June 4.

“Halfway through the application time frame, less than a quarter of that number have applied and less than one per cent have been paid a cent,” Mr Clare said.

“This is proof that the HomeBuilder Scheme is too small and rolling out too slowly.”

The figures from the treasury portfolio show 2563 applications were made in Victoria, with more recent figures from Victoria’s treasurer’s office showing that number has risen to 3301.

By September 11 there had been just 1353 applications in NSW, which had the next highest total. Queensland was third on the list with just over 1205, followed by South Australia’s 490, the ACT’s 281, Tasmania’s 279 and WA’s 144. The Northern Territory had received just 10.

The government grants are available for new home builds worth up to $750,000 and renovations of between $150,000-$750,000 where building contracts are signed between June 4 and December 31 this year. Applicants must also meet certain income and construction commencement criteria.

The figures released by Mr Clare also show just a tiny fraction of those applicants have received a payment.

NSW headed that list with 46 payments, followed by Queensland, 38, WA, 26, Victoria, 8, the Northern Territory, 3. There had been one payment in both SA and Tasmania, and none in the NT.

The figures also show renovations are accounting for less than one in four applications, with 1471 made nationwide so far.

Victoria led again, with 508, however with renovations still banned for inhabited Melbourne homes there has yet to be a single payout in the state.

Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said the numbers to September 11 were reasonable given the slow speed at which the program had been implemented by the states, with no facility to apply for the cash online until mid August.

“What we are seeing coming through the pipeline is that a large number of applications are to come un over the next few months to the end of December,” Mr Reardon said.

However Victoria’s numbers were a “surprise”, but not enough to remove the possibility the program could fall short of its 27,000 grants estimate.

“It certainly has had an impact in restoring confidence in home building,” he said.

“But the downturn in Victoria will certainly effect the ability of Victoria to aquire its share of HomeBuilder.”

Payments would accellerate over the coming months, but would be skewed to the backend of of March, he tipped.

“It takes time to work through the building process and to get approvals,” Mr Reardon said.

Some of the nation’s biggest builders have called for the program to be extended in Victoria at the least.

Burbank national general manager residential housing Louis Sultan said an extension would help Victorians who had not “had the opportunity to take advantage of the scheme” due to the lockdown.

Metricon chief executive Mario Biasin said with display suites in Melbourne opening just last week extending the scheme was “essential”.

“It makes sense to extend the grant to maximise its intended benefit not just for the construction industry, but also for the overall economy of Australia,” Mr Biasin said.